Touhou Youkai Hourousha: From the Sky and Beyond
by bluewolf963
Summary: A man was trying to live a normal life until Flandre Scarlet literally fell into his hands. At that point, his life ceased being normal as he was pulled into a conflict that threatens both his world and Gensokyo.
1. Out of the Sky

_A/N: I had to write this one. The idea just kept nagging at me and wouldn't leave me be until I did. I hope everyone enjoys it._

_Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, not me_

**Chapter 1 – Out of the Sky**

"Hey, Sei-chan! Wanna help me face a couple of these aisles before you go?" asked a short man, roughly four foot-six. He had no hair, dark skin, and black eyes. He was wearing tan khaki shorts and a black shirt with a white headband.

"Yeah, sure, why not? Don't really have anything else to do tonight, Ikai," replied the one addressed as "Sei-chan." He was taller, about five foot-ten. Had long, dark hair, red eyes, and tanned skin. He was wearing black jeans, a blue T-shirt, and a blue bandanna.

The pair were working in a store called Tsubura Market, a moderate sized grocery store located near a highway, providing for most of its business. It was a little after midnight. The pair worked on store's overnight shift, so they had the store to themselves. They were busy getting the store ready for the next day. They didn't have a freight truck to worry about that night, hence why there was only two of them. They only needed to straighten up the shelves from the shopping of that day.

"Man, I seriously have to stop coming in on my off nights. Sure, it helps me out to order my freight tonight as opposed to ordering last night, but still," spoke Sei.

"Seigai, as many times as you've said that, you continue to show up every week," replied Ikai.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm such a nice guy and all that good stuff," replied Seigai.

"What were you going to do, anyway? Just hit up your computer like you do every night, right?" asked Ikai.

"Yeah, pretty much, since everyone I know is asleep at this hour," replied Seigai, as he started facing the items in front of him.

"Who do you know again?" asked Ikai, while chuckling as he faced the items in front of him.

"I can't help it that everyone I know ended up moving after I got out of university," spoke Seigai.

"Why didn't you go with them? It's not that exciting around here," spoke Ikai.

"I know, but I wasn't able to find a good job anywhere, at least nothing guaranteed. Most of them didn't, either, they just went back home. Can't help it that they aren't really hiring architects right now. Why else would I be working here still?" asked Seigai.

"True enough. A shame that you can't put that degree of yours to good use," replied Ikai.

"At least I'm not like a doctor who's stuck as a janitor. That would be worse," spoke Seigai, while chuckling a little at the thought.

The job market had been rough for the past couple of years. Many of the people Seigai graduated with were also left without jobs in their fields. Some took other jobs, just like Seigai. Others went back to live with their families. The few who had jobs had connections that allowed them to get their foot in the door.

Seigai and Ikai continued to work and talk for another hour. At that point, they had a good portion of the store taken care of.

"Well, I should be able to take care of the rest now, Sei-chan," spoke Ikai.

"Ah, good. I'd like to just go home and rest now. It's been a long week, and it's only Wednesday," replied Seigai, "I'm not surprised Tsuyoshi called out. It's been rough for him, too, with everyone buying freezer meals from his aisle instead of cooking."

"Yeah, it has been a hot summer. Well, come on, might as well get you going. I'll lock you out," replied Ikai.

"Alright," replied Seigai.

Seigai made his way for the exit. He waved to Ikai before making his way out. He smiled as he walked along the streets leading to his house.

"_Well, things aren't so bad, really. This life isn't as bad as that last one. I don't think I have to worry about getting blown up this time,"_ thought Seigai.

Seigai had a secret that he made sure to keep from everyone else. His secret being that he was a wandering spirit of sorts. His original body was that of a wolf youkai. His body at the time was similar to his current body, except his hair was silver and went all the way down his back instead of ending at his shoulder blades, his ears were those of a wolf, and he had a tail. After his original body perished, by became a detached spirit, seeking other bodies he could use as a vessel. He had been living like this since for what he believed to be several hundreds of years. His ongoing joke with himself being he lost count after the first few hundred. He remembers his first life vividly, as opposed to the subsequent "lives" he's lived. He knows it was sometime before the year one thousand when he originally lived. As their was a profound lack of technology at that point of time, it wasn't as easy to keep track of the exact date. He had lived in a forest in the northern part of Hokkaido at that point in time. As his kind were often feared by the humans of the time, he made sure to keep away from human settlements. He made it a policy to never eat a human, though he had been forced to kill a few who threatened him on occasion. At various times in his first life, he became romantically involved with some human women, though, he would end up separated due to either their death or their families coming after him, which only prompted him to further keep out of human societies way. He had managed to live for close to five hundred years before he was ambushed by a group of humans while out hunting for food. The group was under the impression all youkai were evil and attacked Seigai for that reason. While Seigai was able to fight off and kill a few of them, he knew full well it would be next to impossible for him to take out twenty humans on his own. After he was killed, the humans burned his body, ensuring there would be no way for him to revive. From that point onward, Seigai sought out vessels in the form of unborn children. After inhabiting the bodies, he would live out their lives as best as he could. Sometimes he was born as another youkai, though as youkai began to disappear, he was born into human more often children. Since he was a youkai spirit, he was able to change the human bodies he inhabited over time to attain his original form, though he was careful to hide this from those around him in most of his lives. In the lives he was found out, he was killed, even if it was a family member of his current vessel. He continued this pattern to this day, watching as the world advanced around him. He could remember some random things from his lives. He remembers the first railroads in Japan, various wars, even when he was a kamikaze pilot during the second world war. Though he retained most of the knowledge he acquired in his previous lives, he continued to school himself, hoping to further what he knew of the world, and had been doing well to live a normal life up to this point.

"_You know, I miss the old days. Yeah, I didn't have the convenience of the Internet and all that other good stuff, but still, there was something romantic around seeing the sky at night while sitting in a clearing. No skyscrapers blocking the view or lights outshining the stars. Oh well, if everything is a cycle, then maybe those times will come again," _thought Seigai, as he was walking. There wasn't a soul around at this time of night, which he found comforting in it's own way.

He made his way into the small wooded area between Tsubura and his home, enjoying the calm of the trees. He paused to look up into the sky.

"Sure is nice out here tonight. Perhaps I'll take my time," spoke Seigai.

He slowed his pace, but stopped when he felt something out of place.

"What an odd feeling..." muttered Seigai, as he noticed something in the sky above. It appeared as though the sky was rippling, like the surface of a lake after one casts a stone. Seigai continued to stare until there was a bright flash, causing him to shield his eyes momentarily. When he looked up, he saw what appeared to be a person falling from the sky. He moved to catch the person, and ended up being knocked onto the ground, though he did keep the individual from harm. He looked down to see the person appeared to be a young girl. From what he could tell in the low light, she had pale skin and shoulder length blond hair with a ponytail on her left. She wore a red dress that went down to her mid thigh along with a red vest over a pink shirt. She had a yellow bow on the collar of her shirt. She was also wearing a pink mop hat with a red ribbon attached to it.

As Seigai tried to set her up, he noticed something strange about her. When her back came into view, he saw them. They appeared to be a pair of wings of some kind, made of wrought iron and prism shards. Seigai looked at his hands and noticed he had a cut on his left hand from one of the shards. Seigai then noted she appeared to have fangs.

"_You've got to be kidding me... is this... it can't be..." _thought Seigai, as he looked at the girl in front of him.

"Flandre... Scarlet?" spoke Seigai, looking in awe at the person who shouldn't exist in front of him. Seigai slapped himself a couple of times and pinched his cheek until he felt the pain from his actions, informing him that he was awake.

"_If she really is Flandre, then was that wave thing some kind of portal?"_ thought Seigai.

Flandre started to move, leaving Seigai pondering what do to. Sure, if she killed him, he would just find another vessel, but knowing what he did of her, he knew he couldn't just let her roam free, as the results could be catastrophic.

"_Just my luck. Even though I can use some of my youkai powers with this body, remarkable seeing as most of my human vessels don't gain any until they're about thirty, and I'm only twenty-three in this life, I'm hardly a match for someone like her!" _thought Seigai.

Seigai's thoughts were interrupted when he felt the same strange feeling as before. He looked up to see the same pattern followed by another flash of light. The time, a human shaped object floated down. Upon studying it, he realized it was a human in some kind of body armor. The armor appeared to be bulky and fully enclosed. The armor appeared to be a dark gray, with a black square around the mouth and black screen across the eyes.

"Hand the girl over," came a male voice.

"Who are you?" asked Seigai.

"Hand the girl over, now!" shouted the man.

"_I don't like the vibes I'm getting from this guy. Whether I can handle Flandre or not, something tells me giving her to this guy is a bad idea,"_ thought Seigai.

"Why should I? Who are you? Are you her guardian?" asked Seigai, though he was already sure of the answer to his last question.

"This is the last time I will ask, hand her over, or you'll be killed," spoke the man.

"You plan to kill me regardless, don't you? I refuse," spoke Seigai.

"You're smart enough to realize that much. You stand no chance, prepare to meet your fate," spoke the man. As he said this, a pair of devices swung up from the back of the armor to over the shoulders. They began to glow before firing out a series of energy bullets in expanding spheres. Seigai leapt back, dodging through the pattern of bullets, knowing he would be trouble if he were to be hit. He looked for a place to set Flandre down, and thought of some way to attack back. The man only turned in Seigai's direction, not trying to pursue him right away. Seigai ducked behind a group of trees, hoping they would hold for a few moments.

"_Well, I have enough strength in this body to augment my punches with an energy aura. I'll have to get close, but that's my best shot. I don't want to try something else and end up damaging my body in some way. Well, time to go for broke!" _thought Seigai, as he ran out from behind the tree, and charged into the array. Seigai could hear the man laughing as he didn't even try to get out of the way, assuming Seigai had no way in injure him through his armor. Seigai charged some of his youkai energy into his fists, and slammed his his fist into the device on the man's right shoulder. It exploded into a small fireball, sending both Seigai and the man back.

"What!" shouted the man as he fell to the ground. The man looked at Seigai again. He tapped his helmet with his left hand, his right arm having been crippled from the explosion. The screen covering his eyes appeared to light up. Though Seigai couldn't see it, the man was clearly surprised at what he saw.

"Impossible! You're from there, aren't you? From that place we found her! But there shouldn't be anyone else from that world here!" shouted the man.

"Sorry, I'm from here, this world, this area. Always been here. Didn't you ever listen to your parents when they told stories of the youkai of old?" asked Seigai.

The man got back on his feet, and pointed his remaining device at Seigai.

"Screw you!" shouted the man, as he fired out a more concentrated burst from his remaining device. Though the bullets were more dense than before, since they were coming from only one point, it was easy enough for Seigai to charge through and hit the other device, blowing it away in the same manner as the first. As the man stood up again, Seigai delivered more hits to the man's armor, causing some of the devices within to spark as they were damaged. The man suddenly appeared alarmed as sparks started shooting out the back of his armor rapidly.

"No! You damaged the power core! Curse you!" shouted the man.

Seigai didn't like the implication. He ran to get Flandre, and got her and himself as far from the man as possible. A large explosion confirmed what Seigai believed was going to happen.

"That takes care of that," spoke Seigai.

Flandre stirred and opened her red eyes, staring at Seigai.

"Um... hi?" asked Seigai.

Flandre tried fighting to get out of Seigai's grasp, but couldn't get free, surprising Seigai from what he knew of her strength. He dropped the thought of her power and tried to calm her down.

"Easy, I'm not going to hurt you. I just saved you from that armor guy... whatever he was. You're safe now," spoke Seigai.

Flandre stopped struggling, appearing to be too tired to maintain her fight.

"W-where am I?" asked Flandre.

"Um, near Sarufutsu Village, on the island of Hokkaido in Japan," replied Seigai.

"Huh? The Human Village?" asked Flandre.

"Oh dear... well, there's no easy way to say it, so I just will; you're not in Gensokyo anymore; Gensokyo doesn't exist in this world," replied Seigai.

"What... what? No Remi-onee-chan? No Sakuya? None of the little fairy maids?" asked Flandre.

"I'm sure your sister will find a way here, or I'll find a way to get you to her. Either way, I'll make sure you see them again," replied Seigai, being cautious of how he phrased things, knowing full well what Flandre could do if she were to get mad at him.

"Not even red-white nee-san and black-white nee-san?" asked Flandre.

"I don't think they're here. They might be, they could be looking for you," replied Seigai.

Seigai was hoping he was right, though he had a feeling he wasn't. The only person who had any answers for him just exploded into a ball of fire behind him.

"I'm tired," spoke Flandre.

She appeared to be relatively calm after hearing everything, surprising Seigai. He figured it was best not to look a gift horse in the mouth and continued on his way to his house, knowing it would be best to keep her there.

"_Hopefully Roku is already asleep, I doubt that brother of mine would get all that's going on. Even if I wanted to say I was having a girl over, and she just looked young, I can't just explain the wings away... unless I can convince him she's cosplaying, or something,"_ thought Seigai as he continued on his way.

Seigai looked up to the sky occasionally as he was walking, checking to see if there would be anyone else "dropping in." To his relief, he arrived at his house without problem. He lived in a small house he shared with three other people. One person, Kaiji Saka, lived in the basement. Another, Sowa Kaki, took one of the small upstairs bedrooms, though he was rarely at the house. Seigai's brother, Roku, lived in another small bedroom. Seigai had the master bedroom.

Seigai opened the door to see his brother sitting on the couch in the living area. He was about to panic until he noticed his brother had merely passed out there rather than in his bedroom. Seigai said nothing as he took Flandre to his room.

Seigai set Flandre on one of his chairs, being mindful of her wings, which could tear the padded chair apart if he wasn't careful of how he placed her. He made sure she would be comfortable.

"Are you still awake?" asked Seigai, as he looked at Flandre. She had been awake the whole time, though she seemed out of it, like something was draining her of her strength.

"Who are you?" asked Flandre.

"Me? I'm Seigai Urufu. Your name wouldn't happen to be Flandre Scarlet, would it?" asked Seigai.

"You're good," replied Flandre.

"_Oh boy, I really was right,"_ thought Seigai.

"I'm hungry," spoke Flandre.

"Huh? Oh, uh... uh oh," spoke Seigai.

Seigai did have a few snacks he could get for Flandre, but he knew what she really needed. As a vampire, Flandre needed blood to survive. He could go look for some nearby animal, but he knew Flandre probably wouldn't wait. As rough as she was, she had likely been deprived of food for sometime.

"Uh... well... here," spoke Seigai, as he held his arm out to Flandre, believing himself to have no other choice. Flandre stared at him for a moment, wondering what he was doing.

"What are you doing?" asked Flandre.

"Eh? I'm offering you my blood. I know you need it to survive. I don't think I could really find something for you that quick, so... just don't take too much," spoke Seigai.

"Blood? I know it looks like the red sauce on some of my meals," replied Flandre.

"_That's right, she doesn't know, does she? Well, I suppose she was going to have to learn eventually," _thought Seigai.

"That red sauce is blood. You've never taken blood from a human before, have you?" asked Seigai.

"That's right. Onee-chan told me about it. I just forgot," replied Flandre, as she sank her teeth into Seigai's arm. Seigai winced at the pain, but let it go, knowing he had no choice, seeing as he couldn't let her loose upon the area.

"Easy, I need that," spoke Seigai. He pulled his arm away once he began to feel dizzy. He noticed the two holes with blood still coming out of them as he pulled his arm away. Seigai walked to his private bathroom to wash off his arm and bandage it.

"Is that better?" asked Seigai from the bathroom.

"A little," replied Flandre.

"I can get you something else, too, just hold on for a moment," replied Seigai, as he finished with his arm. He headed into the kitchen and looked into his cabinet, He had half a bag of potato chips and a couple of packs of crackers. That's all he had that was quick, and he was tired from fighting the armored man and having his blood drained by Flandre. He gathered them up and took them up the stairs.

"Sorry I don't have anything more elegant. I know you're probably used to eating food a little more high class, but this is all I have," replied Seigai.

Flandre didn't seem to care as she took the bag of chips out of Seigai's hand and began eating them like a wild animal.

"_And I thought I was bad when I was hungry. This girl takes the top prize,"_ thought Seigai as he watched her devour the entire bag within a few minutes. The crackers didn't last too much longer.

"Well, at least I got one cracker before you finished," spoke Seigai, half laughing.

"I was hungry," replied Flandre.

"Fair enough. I don't suppose you know how you got here?' asked Seigai.

"Hmm... well, these strange people in armor wanted to play. They tried to break me. I think they did, because I ended up falling asleep. Then I woke up with that one guy in front of me. It looked like I was in some kind of prison. I broke free and tried to break that guy, but something weird happened after I hit him a couple of times, then I ended up here," replied Flandre.

"So, basically, a group of those guys tried to capture you, succeeded, somehow, then one tried to approach you, you woke up and attacked the guy, and activated whatever device he used to get here in the process?" asked Seigai.

"Sounds right," replied Flandre.

"There must have been a lot of them. From what I know of you, you're pretty strong," replied Seigai.

"Yeah, that's what Onee-chan tells me. That's why I have to stay in the basement a lot. She started letting me out a lot more after I met red-white nee-san and black-white nee-san," replied Flandre.

"I see, so, Reimu and Marisa, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah. You sure do know a lot about me," spoke Flandre.

"Yes, well, in this world, yours exists as a series of computer games," replied Seigai.

"Games?" asked Flandre.

"I guess I should just show you," spoke Seigai, as he pulled up his chair to his computer and pulled up a game titled "Embodiment of Scarlet Devil."

"Watch," spoke Seigai, as he played through it, making sure Flandre saw.

"Hey, that looks like black-white nee-san," spoke Flandre, as she was pointing at the player-character.

"It is," replied Seigai as he continued. He played through the extra stage, getting through the fight with Flandre.

"That's not what really happened. It was both of them, and we played for a lot longer than that, and a lot of things broke and stuff," spoke Flandre.

"Well, these are just games. I imagine that your world is a lot more complex. They make for a good summary, I suppose," spoke Seigai.

"You know, you don't seem like a human, at least, not from what I've heard about them," spoke Flandre, "I know they can't use magic to make their punches stronger."

"So you did see parts of that fight? You're right, I'm not quite human. This body is, more or less, but I was originally a wolf youkai. Every time one of my bodies passes on, I find another to live in. I lost track of how long I've been doing it, though, if I had to guess, I'd say close to fifteen hundred years, give or take," explained Seigai.

"I'm only four-hundred ninety-five," replied Flandre.

"I'm surprised you can pull that from the top of your head. I lost count after the first few hundred. Then again, I've always lived the humble life. Nothing too big or fancy. At least I don't remember being rich in one of my previous lives. I only remember my first one really well. Most of my past is a blur, even to me," spoke Seigai.

"So you can't die?" asked Flandre.

"My body does, but I continue on. I'm kind of stubborn like that. I end up changing my human bodies into youkai bodies, though, it usually takes about fifty years to complete the process. This one might only take forty, maybe thirty-seven, thirty-eight if I'm lucky. This one seems to like my youkai powers a lot more than some of my other bodies did," explained Seigai.

"I get it. What's it like to die?" asked Flandre.

"What's it like to die... hmm... well, that depends on how. Sometimes, it's like falling asleep, and when you wake up, you still feel like you're dreaming. Other times, if feels like being pulled out of a room really quickly. Other times still you feel a lot of pain all at once, and then all of a sudden, nothing. I don't think words really do the process justice, but I can say that it's something best avoided. I don't particularly enjoy it," replied Seigai.

"I don't want to die, either," replied Flandre.

"Well, I'll do my best to keep you safe from those strange guys in armor. I'll try to get you home, too," spoke Seigai.

"I would like that," spoke Flandre.

"Well, since you're here, and we have a little time to kill, want to try this game out? It might feel a little odd, but it is a fun way to pass the time," replied Seigai.

"Okay," spoke Flandre.

It was only four in the morning. Seigai worked overnight, and usually didn't go to sleep until sometime around eight. He knew Flandre was a vampire, and likely followed a similar sleeping pattern as a result, so figured she wouldn't get too tired until later. Seigai explained how to play the game to Flandre, then let her try. At first, Flandre did horribly, but once she figured out the controls, she started to get a little better at it. In the end, though, she ended up being defeated when she got to the stage where she faced her sister.

"Stupid Onee-chan!" shouted Flandre, as she stood up, and glared at the computer. Seigai was puzzled for a moment, until he saw her moving her palm between her face and the computer.

"Ah! Wait! Don't do that!" shouted Seigai. Seigai was too late to stop her as she closed her palm. Seigai expected to see his computer explode, but nothing happened.

"Huh?" asked Seigai.

"What? I went 'kyuu' and nothing happened?" spoke Flandre, puzzled at what took place. She saw her chair, and thought to try it next, but once again, nothing happened.

"Uh, maybe you're not doing it right?" asked Seigai.

"I'm doing it right!" shouted Flandre, as she tried it on his door next, ending with the same result.

"Maybe it's because you're worn out from everything that happened," spoke Seigai.

Flandre sat down and started to cry. Seigai figured it was only a matter of time before the reality of her being trapped in another world caught up to her. Seigai wasn't sure of the best way to approach the situation. He knew one wrong move could result in his death, seeing as his body still held its human limitations. He figured all he could do was try to comfort her, and ended up letting her cry into his chest while holding her in a small embrace.

"It'll be alright, okay. I'll find a way for you to get home. There has to be some way. If you can get here, you can get back," spoke Seigai.

Seigai said this knowing it was a crap shoot. As long-lived as he was, his mind was more open to the existence of other worlds than others may be. He was also more excepting of vampires, seeing as he himself was a youkai. Still, he knew it was one thing to know of these worlds, but quite another to try and touch one. He would much rather be in a place where youkai were more accepted, as opposed to living constantly while hiding his true identity from everyone he came into contact with.

Flandre started to calm down a little. She stopped crying and ended up falling asleep on Seigai.

"_Well, I guess she has had it a little rough. She was at that game for a few hours, I can see the sunlight starting to show. I guess I better close the blinds; I wouldn't want the sunlight to touch her," _thought Seigai, as he gently lay her against the chair and closed off the light from entering the room.

"_That should take care of it,"_ thought Seigai, as he let out a yawn, _"Uh, I feel more tired than usual. Probably from letting her have my blood earlier. I think now would be a good time to sleep."_

Seigai went into his closet, and pulled out a pair of pillows and his sleeping bag. He didn't have a bed, as he thought it would end up taking up too much space in his room he could use for something else. He laid it out away from the window and gently lay Flandre on one side while supporting her head with one of his pillows.

"Maybe I'll wake up and find out this whole thing is just some dream. Maybe. As fun as this has been, it's just a bit weird for me," spoke Seigai to himself. Part of him wished this were a dream, and that his normal life awaited him. Another part of him wanted things to continue as they were, giving him some excitement for a change. He pulled off his shirt, though he opted to keep his jeans on, since he was in the presence of a young lady, laid himself on the other half of his sleeping bag, and drifted off to sleep.

Seigai awoke to the sound of his alarm sometime in the late afternoon. The sun was still up, though it was getting close to setting. Seigai always had trouble getting himself up.

"_Uh... I don't feel like getting up today... I'll just wait for the next alarm,"_ thought Seigai. He had yet to open his eyes. He felt his pillow laying on top of him. He figured it ended up there sometime during the day. It felt like the pillow case was falling off, so he went to correct it.

"_My pillow feels odd... what are these two things sticking out of hit? And what is this bump here?" _thought Seigai, as he was reaching in to adjust his pillow, _"This doesn't feel like my pillow... wait, my pillow ends here, and this feels like... wait a minute."_

Seigai's eyes snapped open. He looked up to see Flandre had rolled on top of him in his sleep. He noticed he had accidentally trailed his hands up her skirt, thinking she was a pillow. Seigai blushed before pulling out his hand.

"_Okay, so I just violated her. Yeah, sure, nothing bad could come of that, yeah," _thought Seigai.

"Uh... that felt nice," muttered Flandre.

"Eh?" asked Seigai, as he turned to see if Flandre was still asleep. Her eyes were closed, so he counted his blessings and let it be.

"_Well, I'll wait to see how long it takes for her to wake up. I don't know how tired she is, but she's bound to wake up eventually," _ thought Seigai.

His alarm went off a couple more times before Flandre finally woke up.

"That's loud," muttered Flandre.

"I'd turn it off, but I'm kind of trapped," replied Seigai.

Flandre opened her eyes and saw where she was. She seemed to blush a little before moving over. Seigai rose and turned off the alarm.

"So, ready for some breakfast?" asked Seigai.

"Sure," replied Flandre.

Seigai slowly opened his bedroom door, and took a look around. He didn't see anyone, so he slowly led Flandre down the stairs. His luck ran out when he saw his brother on the couch again, this time, he was wide awake.

"Oh, Sei, finally awake, huh? Wait, who's that?" asked Roku.

"Oh, her?" asked Seigai.

"I'm Flandre!" shouted Flandre.

"_Not quite subtle at all,"_ thought Seigai.

"Okay... what's with those... uh... wings?" asked Roku.

"These? Well..."

"They're part of a costume. We were working on them last night, and she wanted to try them out," spoke Seigai, cutting off Flandre.

"Oh, whatever," spoke Roku, muttering something about obsessive anime fans under his back.

"_Good, he bought it. Kaiji shouldn't be back from his job for a while, so I should be alright for the time being,"_ though Seigai.

"Well, I got some cereal and bagels. Not much but it's food," spoke Seigai. He poured two bowls of a cereal that consisted of flakes and dried out strawberries. And took them to the dining table which lay between the kitchen and the living area.

"Feel free to dig in while I get the bagels ready. Do you like cream cheese?' asked Seigai.

"What's cream cheese?" asked Flandre.

"I'll make one with and without, in case you don't like it," spoke Seigai, and he brought in the pair of bagels he prepared.

Flandre found she liked bagels with cream cheese, prompting Seigai to spread some on the other bagel. The two ate their meal quickly; Seigai cleaned up after they were finished. Seigai led Flandre back to his room, trying to think of something the pair of them could do to pass the time.

"Can you go outside during the day?" asked Seigai.

"Huh? Yeah, sure. The sun makes me a little weak, but it won't really hurt me," replied Flandre.

"I figured as much. I wanted to see something," spoke Seigai.

"What did you want to see?" asked Flandre.

"How much of your power you can use in this world. It seems like you are limited in some way for some reason. Seeing as we'll likely be attacked by more of those armor guys, it would probably be a good idea to see if you can fight them," answered Seigai.

"Why do we have to go outside?" asked Flandre.

"This house here isn't really build for firing off bullets and what not. I know of a place we can go. It's well shaded, so you won't have to worry about the sun, and there are rarely other people there, so it should be a perfect place to do this," explained Seigai.

"Okay!" shouted Flandre.

Seigai locked up his room and took Flandre down the stairs, preparing to depart.

"Where are you two going?" asked Roku.

"Out," replied Seigai.

"Where to? You don't have a car or anything, you know. Does she drive?" asked Roku.

"Drive?" asked Flandre.

"Uh, no, she doesn't drive; she doesn't have a car either. We both walk wherever we want to go," replied Seigai.

"Whatever. So, I have to ask, is she a screamer?" asked Roku.

"A screamer? I can scream, really loud!" shouted Flandre.

Seigai was thankful for Flandre's innocence, knowing full well what Roku was implying through his question.

"I thought I told you before I don't just go and do that kind of thing with every girl I meet!" shouted Seigai.

"What kind of thing?" asked Flandre.

"Um... uh... maybe you should ask your sister about that the next time you see her," replied Seigai, trying to think of an answer quickly.

"What kind of girl is she? Does she really not know what sex is?" asked Roku.

"Huh? That? Why would we be doing that?" asked Flandre.

Seigai was flustered at this point, not wanting to get into this kind of conversation with his younger sibling.

"_It's times like these I miss the lives I lived where I was an only child,"_ thought Seigai.

"What we do or don't do behind closed doors is none of your concern, okay? Stop asking bothersome questions," spoke Seigai in a stern tone.

"What? Whatever, just go," spoke Roku, turning his attention back to the television.

"I think we should get going," spoke Seigai, as he led Flandre out the door.

Seigai led Flandre into the woods near his home. The place he had in mind was a small clearing in the middle of the woods.

"Why did he... uh... what's his name?" asked Flandre.

"Roku. He's my brother, well, sort of. The brother of this vessel, anyway," replied Seigai.

"So you don't really have a brother that's like you?" asked Flandre.

"No; I was an only child in my first life. It's kind of odd having a new family in my new lives. After having a family before, it doesn't feel the same with a new family. I never even tell anyone who I really am," replied Seigai.

"Why did you tell me?" asked Flandre.

"You? Well, I figured since you were a vampire, you would be a little more accepting. Humans seem to have a problem with those different from them. Doesn't help out much that some youkai eat humans. You drink their blood. Humans don't particularly like the idea of being food, not that I can blame them. Seriously, though, it would be nice if they didn't assume that all of us are out to get them," replied Seigai.

"Yeah, we've had that problem from time to time. We would get these people that would try to come to our mansion and try to kill us. That's why we have Meiling-san and Sakuya-san," replied Flandre.

"Makes sense. There's no point in having guards if no one ever bothers to come to do something," spoke Seigai.

"We don't have too many people coming to the mansion to do that now, though. Remilia onee-chan's reputation has helped out a lot," replied Flandre.

"I wouldn't go and pick a fight with your sister, either. Not either of you, really. Even if I could beat the two of you, I wouldn't go out of my way to do it. It would be a tough fight either way. Truthfully, I hate fighting, anyway. That's why I always tried to stay away from humans when I was a youkai in my first life," spoke Seigai.

"Must have been lonely," spoke Flandre.

"It was, but I didn't have much of a choice. The humans living here at that time were terrified of us youkai. They would often hunt us down on purpose, thinking of us as some kind of terror brought down upon them from the heavens. While there were those of us who would attack humans, most of us left them alone. It was those few who made problems for the rest of us," replied Seigai.

"Did you ever meet anyone?" asked Flandre.

"Well, not too many people in my first life. I would run into people when I entered a village to shop for something I couldn't obtain on my own, such as clothing. I was terrible at making my own clothes. I would get some stares and a few death threats, but you could walk into a human village without much problem if you were careful about where you tread. The humans at least knew that they couldn't deal with us one on one. It took twenty of them to finally take me down," explained Seigai.

"Take you down? Why?" asked Flandre.

"Prejudice, poor assumptions, hate. Pick your motive. I never had a chance to ask them why, I just knew I had to try my best to get out of the situation I landed in. Ended up being beaten badly. They even cut off my left arm and right foot at one point. They nearly severed my head, but fell short of removing it," replied Seigai.

"You could have recovered from that, right? I know I could. Remilia onee-chan, too. Meiling get's knives thrown at her head all the time when she falls asleep at the gate," spoke Flandre.

"I could have. The problem was that they knew that, too, so they burned my body until there was nothing left. Even I can't return from nothing. There needs to be at least one part of me still left alive. Fire has a way of taking care of that problem. They must have been quite diligent to make sure even my bones were reduced to ash," explained Seigai.

"It must have been painful," spoke Flandre.

"Not at all. I was unconscious from my injuries. I didn't know what happened until my spirit was forced out of my body from it's destruction. I was able to piece together what happened from there. I'm glad I couldn't feel it; it's not pleasant. I've died by being burned up a couple of times. It's by far the most unpleasant way to die," replied Seigai.

Seigai continued leading Flandre to his special place in the woods. Upon arriving, Seigai took note of there being no one there. The clearing it self was fairly large. There were a few trees in some places, ensuring there would be enough cover to keep the sunlight from breaking through. There was a small river that ran through it, with a small beach on the side they were on. There was a small rock face about three stories high at the far end of their side of the river. The other side was covered in brush and foliage, making it difficult for someone to walk through.

"This place should do just fine," spoke Seigai.

"Wow, I haven't been to a place like this in a long time, not since before I had to stay in the basement," spoke Flandre.

"Hopefully you'll get to see many places like this once you get back to your world," replied Seigai, "Now, let's see what you can do. I don't suppose you have any weapons?"

"I have my spell cards with me. The armor people didn't get a chance to take them," spoke Flandre.

"Ah, okay. Well, let's see if you can use any of them," spoke Seigai.

"Okay! Taboo! Four of a Kind!" shouted Flandre, as she pulled out one of her spell cards. Seigai watched, waiting to see if anything would happen. Flandre ended up dropping to her knees.

"Flandre! Are you okay?" asked Seigai.

"I felt really tired all of a sudden, like... like... hitting a wall," spoke Flandre.

"Maybe try a weaker spell card?" asked Seigai.

Flandre nodded, and exchanged her card for another.

"Taboo! Cranberry Trap!" shouted Flandre.

Seigai watched again. This time, the space around them distorted. A series of magic circles appeared around Flandre, firing out a barrage of bullets. Seigai stared for a moment, until he realized he was being targeted. Seigai quickly began ducking and weaving between the bullets fired at him.

"Ah! Make it stop!" shouted Seigai. Flandre could only laugh as she saw Seigai bending himself in all kinds of directions in order to avoid being struck. Flandre's laughter sudden stopped as she fell again, putting an end to the barrage, and returning the space around them to normal.

"Ah, thanks," spoke Seigai.

"I... didn't..." spoke Flandre. She appeared to be out of breath. Seigai walked over to her to see if she was okay. He could see that she appeared to be exhausted, as though she had been doing manual labor for several hours.

"I see. I think I see where this is going," spoke Seigai.

"What do you mean?" asked Flandre, as she finally caught her breath.

"You intended to use that for as long as you could, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah. It was funny watching you try to dodge all those bullets!" shouted Flandre.

"Not quite as funny on my end, but you found you had to stop suddenly, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah, like I hit that wall again," replied Flandre.

"So it seems you can still use your powers, but they're severely limited. Any of your spell cards that take a lot of energy to use, you can't, and even the others still drain you more than normal. Must be something about this world that's different from yours, though I can't really think of anything of nature that would cause you a problem. I know I had full access to all of my abilities as a youkai. When I alter my vessel enough, I can use my youkai powers without restraint, too. Hmm..." spoke Seigai.

"What kind of powers do you have?" asked Flandre.

"Oh, not all that different from yours, really. I can enhance parts of my body by focusing my energy onto a point. I can fire off energy in the form of bullets, too. I always lose the spell cards I make from life to life, so I have to make new ones. I always remember the good ones, though, so I can always recreate them," replied Seigai.

"Like what?" asked Flandre.

"Hmm... like what indeed. Let's see, well, there is Taboo: "Shadow Army." It's a lot like your four of a kind, except more than four. I usually make about twenty. Each one isn't particularly powerful. The more there are, the weaker each one gets. It's more about numbers than anything, mainly to scare weak opponents or surround a small group with a bullet barrage. Too bad I didn't get the chance to use it that first time I was killed. Then there's Inner Spirit: "Wolf's Rage." That one is hard to control. Great for several targets. I focus myself on the spirits of those around me and target them with my own in a quick barrage," spoke Seigai.

"Could you show me?" asked Flandre.

"Not in my current state. I can only use the most basic of my youkai powers as I am. If I get the chance, though, I'll be more than happy to show you a trick or two from my book," replied Seigai.

"Okay!" shouted Flandre, sounding excited.

"Now then, if you can do all of those, I guess it wouldn't be too much for you to fire off bullets in a regular pattern, right?" asked Seigai.

"I wonder," spoke Flandre, as she started to float up to about the height of the cliff. She began firing out bullets in a spherical burst. Seigai found himself dodging again, though, without much difficulty.

"Yeah, you can still do that much," spoke Seigai.

Flandre smiled as she floated back down.

"Well, at least we know you can defend yourself. Still, it must have taken quite a lot of those guys to have gotten to you when you were at full power," spoke Seigai.

"A bunch. I couldn't break all of them," spoke Flandre.

"Well, hopefully they won't send too many after you," spoke Seigai.

The pair passed the rest of the day on top of the cliff face. Flandre could easily fly to the top, while Seigai made his way up via a steep path that came up one side. The pair spent their time looking at all the animals that were making their way through the forest.

"I'm hungry," spoke Flandre.

"Well, there's plenty of blood in them," spoke Seigai.

Flandre wasted no time in knocking out a deer that had gotten too close. She was quick to drain it of all it's blood.

"Ouch," spoke Seigai, "Try not to make a mess, I doubt you'd be able to wear most of my clothes!"

Seigai's words fell on death ears as Flandre moved onto her next target. After Flandre was satisfied, the pair made their way home.

"You know, you'll get fat if you keep eating that much all at once," spoke Seigai.

"I know, I know. Remilia onee-chan tells that to me all the time. I just didn't get much blood from you yesterday, since you asked me to hold back, and I really needed some," replied Flandre.

"Oh, well, fair enough. At least you didn't get any blood all over your clothes. I don't trust the washing machine we have with your clothes; they look like they wouldn't survive," spoke Seigai.

"Washing machine?" asked Flandre.

"Oh, that's right. I suppose all your clothes are hand cleaned. We have a machine that does that for us, though, it would tear up something delicate, even on the gentle setting," explained Seigai.

"That must be nice. Sakuya-san and the fairies clean our clothes for us," spoke Flandre.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind having a machine do the work for them," spoke Seigai.

"Maybe. Sakuya-san really takes pride in her work. I don't think she would want a machine that would do the work for her," replied Flandre.

"If my co-workers had that kind of dedication, I would never have to worry about something not getting done," spoke Seigai.

"What kind of job do you have?" asked Flandre.

"I stock shelves at a grocery store. I take care of the pet products and pasta products. You wouldn't think there would be so many varieties of pasta sauce, but there are," spoke Seigai, "I wonder what kind of 'fun' awaits me tonight?"

"You work at night?" asked Flandre.

"Yeah, overnight. I like it that way. There are no people there, except those I work with, so I don't have to worry about anyone getting in the way. It makes it a lot easier for me to get my work done that way," replied Seigai.

"Is that why you sleep during the day?" asked Flandre.

"Yep. That's why. I don't mind, really, though, I don't get to interact with people too often, since I'm usually awake when everyone else is asleep. It was like that when I was a youkai, too. I would often have my waking hours be at night, when humans were sleeping. Made it a lot easier to avoid them," replied Seigai.

"Do you have a lot of friends?" asked Flandre.

"Not really. I can't. Every time I get too close to someone, and they find out what I really am, bad things happen," spoke Seigai.

"What kinds of things?" asked Flandre.

"There was this one life of mine where I met this girl. Her name was Akano, Akano Kuroiso. She was a few inches shorter than me, had long, bright red hair and black eyes. She would often wear this black dress, tied with red ribbons. She often wore it when she was with me. She was the first person I ever opened my heart to. Even when I told her who I really was, she didn't mind. She was such a kind person, so gentle. So accepting of everyone," spoke Seigai, his voice starting to waver.

"Then something bad happened?" asked Flandre.

"Yeah. I proposed to her one night. She happily accepted. Things were going well for me. I have a great job, brought in more than enough to support us. I was accepted by everyone in the community. Even her parents liked me. That all changed quickly though, when I revealed my identity to her parents. I had figured they would be as accepting as she was. They didn't believe me at first, thought I was just joking with them until I revealed my youkai form to them. I had altered that vessel quite a bit by that point in time, so I could do that. They were speechless, of course. Youkai weren't common in the society of that time. They didn't know what to do at first. Then her father realized that a 'thing' was going to marry his daughter. Everything else about me didn't matter at that point. He pretended to accept me, of course. I didn't suspect a thing. Even Akano was surprised her stubborn father appeared to accept me. I was wrong, of course. Dead wrong. He went and told everyone about me. He managed to get enough people to believe him to cause problems for me. That's when it happened," spoke Seigai, holding back a tear.

"You don't have to finish," spoke Flandre.

"No, I should. If nothing else, it'll at least make you think about trusting people aimlessly. Anyway, I was with her one night. I had taken her to a place much like this one, except there was an opening to the sky, so we could see the stars. I thought it would have been a nice way to end the evening. As we were laying back, a group of people from the village I lived in appeared. I was in my youkai form at the time. I liked to take that form around Akano when we were alone, as a sign of how much trust I had in her. The villagers had no doubt about what I was when they saw me, and moved to attack me. Akano tried to stop them, tried to tell them I wasn't the monster they made me out to be. Of course, they didn't listen. They never did when it got to that point. Her father was the first to strike me. He had a metal bar with him. I could take a lot of punishment in that form, so the hit didn't injure me too badly. The problem was that I couldn't fight him back. If I did, I would have had no chance of living a happy life with Akano, not that there was much of a chance of that at that point. I tried to reason with him, tell him that I wasn't a monster, that I would never hurt Akano or anyone else. That the legends of old involving youkai eating humans didn't apply to me. Every time I tried to speak, though, I was hit with that metal bar. He hit me enough times to knock me onto the ground. At that point, the rest of the villagers joined in, hitting me with various weapons and tools they had gathered. I continued to avoid fighting back, hoping to show I truly meant no harm. Perhaps that was my mistake right there. It was only about ten people. I could have taken them, if I went about it the right way, but I couldn't do that in front of Akano. I couldn't bring myself to harm humans in front of her. They continued to beat and batter me. I tried to block their strikes, but they ended up breaking my arm. The continued until they broke both of my legs. They kept striking even as I was trying to crawl away. By that point, my jaw had already been broken, making speaking too painful. They continued until I could no longer move, all amidst screams from Akano telling them to stop. When they had believed me to be dead, they left me. I suppose I was knocked out from a hit the caved in my skull. I remember there being a lot of blood around my head when I came to. I was out for a few days while my body recovered. I took my human form, and made my way back to my house, only to find it had been burnt to the ground. From there, I tried to find Akano. Before I could make it to her house, I was found out by one of the villagers, and was attacked again. I continued to resist the urge to fight back, for the sake of hoping to convince someone I was harmless to them. It failed then as it did before. This group was probably the worst I could have encountered. They bound me up while I recovered this time. I awoke to find myself tied to a stake in an open square. I heard shouts once someone realized I was awake. Akano's father came to me shortly after, gathering a crowd of the villagers. Akano was crying for me at this point, begging for my life. At this point, I realized they were going to execute me. Someone poured some oil on my body while Akano's father held a lit torch to me, watching as I burst into flames. I'm not sure what was more painful, the flames, or Akano's screams. I could make them out clearly from the crowd; she was the only one not cheering. Once my body was fully destroyed, I became a spirit once more. I tried to find a vessel the same age as the one I was in before, but I can't merge with a vessel that has an established consciousness. I had to settle for being born into the world and living life all over again. I spent the much of my next life keeping an eye on Akano, making sure she was safe. I could never reveal myself to her, though. Even if I could, she was thirty years older than my vessel. Even if I could resume a relationship with her, the age gap would have made things difficult," explained Seigai.

"What happened to her?" asked Flandre.

"She moved on. She left the village after a few years. She never did forgive the villagers or her father for what they did to me. She ended up marrying someone else. By that point, she was too old to have any children. She lived the rest of her life in peace, but I could tell that she never forgot about me. I knew, when she was looking up at the stars that it was me she was thinking about. She had the same look she did when she was with me. Maybe it's just me being vain, but I'd like to think of it that way. I'll never know for sure. After that, I made it a policy to avoid telling anyone of my true identity. I haven't told a soul since, and kept in isolation for the most part. I'm planning to do the same in this life, once I have the resources to do so," spoke Seigai.

"Everyone knows about us where we come from. There are those who don't like us, but we've never had to worry about something like that. Are the humans of this place really that way?" asked Flandre.

"They are. You must not tell anyone who you really are; it would have similar consequences, I'm sure. Not to mention those armored people would know where to find you," spoke Seigai.

Flandre nodded in understanding as the pair made their way for Seigai's house. Seigai prepared a dinner consisting of pasta and sauce. He had thought about gathering some of the blood left in one of the animals Flandre had gotten a hold of, but opted not to, since he knew nothing of how to put blood in food that would make it appealing.

"Um, what kind of sauce it is?" asked Flandre.

"Hm?" asked Seigai. He then remembered that there are certain things in pasta sauces that a vampire would not be able to eat. He was glad he had plain sauce this week. Flandre interrupted him before he was about to add some seasonings to it.

"That's right; well, I can just do it plain tonight. I can live without adding in all those seasonings for once," spoke Seigai, as he put his spices back into his cabinet. Seigai set down the small meal on the table, along with a pair of napkins and silverware.

"Itadakimasu!" shouted Seigai.

"Itadakimasu!" shouted Flandre.

The pair enjoyed their meal quietly. No one else was around at the time. Seigai figured Kaiji was in the basement and Roku was off with one of his many girlfriends. After the two finished their meal, Seigai cleaned up and the pair returned to his room.

"Flandre, would you like to take a shower? I can wait for you if you would like; I don't have to be at work for a little while yet, and I'm sure it would help you to feel better," spoke Seigai.

"I would like that," replied Flandre.

"Okay, it's all yours," spoke Seigai, while pointing to his bathroom.

"It's a private bath, so you don't have to worry about anyone sneaking in there," spoke Seigai.

Flandre nodded as she entered the room and closed the door. Seigai sat by his computer and looked up something to pass the time when he heard shouting coming from the bathroom.

"You have to wait a few seconds for the water to warm up!" shouted Seigai, hoping the young girl wouldn't blow up his bathroom out of frustration. He listened to hear if there were any explosions, then went back to what he was doing. Seigai took his turn after Flandre and prepared himself to leave for work.

"Well, I don't have too much here for entertainment. I have a few movies here. You could always look up something on here," spoke Seigai.

"Maybe," spoke Flandre, though she didn't know too much about how to use a computer.

"Wait, that's right, there aren't any computers in your world, are there?" asked Seigai.

"There are some strange things in this one shop. I've never been there before, but I've heard they get in strange things that run on electricity. There's only one person living in Gensokyo that seems to know how to use these things," explained Flandre.

"Well, I guess you can watch some movies. I can show you how to do that," spoke Seigai. He showed Flandre how to put a video disc into his computer and how to work the video player. Flandre figured it out easily enough.

"Okay, I'll be back soon. I get off at five. If you get tired, the sleeping bag and pillows are in the closet," spoke Seigai.

"Alright, I promise to behave," replied Flandre.

Seigai nodded.

"Bye," spoke Seigai, before leaving.

Seigai made his way to Tsubura Market, keeping an eye open for anything out of the ordinary in the sky. Nothing appeared to him on his walk and he arrived at his destination. His other co-workers, including his brother, were already there.

"So, spending a little extra time with your new girlfriend, huh?" asked Ikai.

"About time Sei-chan got a girl," spoke a larger dark-skinned man. He was bald with a beard, and rather rotund. He was wearing blue genes and a gray T-shirt, covered in paint spatter.

"Yeah, she's been there since last night," spoke Roku.

"So that's why it seemed like you were in a hurry to leave last night, eh?" asked Ikai, while chuckling at the thought.

"It's not like that; she's just a friend, that's all," spoke Seigai.

"Don't tell me you're still going on with that nice-guy stuff?" asked the big man.

"Yes, Oki. I'm not the type to get in a girl's pants on the first date," spoke Seigai.

"_Though my hands ended up there by accident,"_ thought Seigai.

"At least Seigai can be a gentleman," spoke an older, pale skinned woman with shoulder length gray hair. She was wearing blue pants and a yellow shirt with a red apron on top.

"Yes, Inishi, Seigai is the perfect gentleman we should all strive to be," spoke Ikai in a sarcastic tone of voice.

The group was of an odd composition, but they did manage to get along. They would often trade jabs with one another over the course of the night while they were working. Seigai enjoyed it. He could talk and carry on while working, and he always managed to get done with everything he needed to do. It was fun job. It may not have been the best paying, but that's not what mattered to him. As many times as he could recall having a high paying job in one of his past lives, he could never remember one where he had as much fun as he did with his current job. At the end of the night, most of the group was ready to go.

"Let me guess, Roku still has work left?" asked Seigai.

"You know him. He gets too carried away and ends up needing to stay longer to get all of his work done," replied Ikai.

"How bothersome. Well, looks like I'm walking home tonight," spoke Seigai.

"Hey, who's that girl?" asked Oki, while pointing at the window. Flandre was out there waiting.

"Eh? What's she doing here?" asked Seigai.

"Is that the girl?" asked Ikai.

"How nice of her to come out here to wait for you," spoke Inishi.

"Uh, yeah. How nice of her," muttered Seigai.

"_She's tempting fate by coming out here by herself. Who knows if one of those guys could be out here waiting for her. Not to mention the trouble we could get in if someone manages to see her wings. Good thing it's still too dark outside for everyone to see them clearly,"_ thought Seigai.

"Well, I guess I better get going. Who knows how long she's been out there waiting. Let's see. Well, I'll you tomorrow night, Inishi. I'll see the rest of you on Sunday," spoke Seigai.

"Enjoy your night off," spoke Ikai, with a light chuckle.

"Yeah, have fun," spoke Oki.

Seigai avoided blushing at the thought and made his way out the door.

"I got tired of waiting," spoke Flandre.

"Fair enough, but it's dangerous for you to come out here like this. If those armored men appeared, you could have ended up in trouble," spoke Seigai.

"I know. That's why I kept hiding myself as I was walking. I'd hide behind a few trees to see if there was anyone else around," spoke Flandre.

"I'm not sure if that would work with these guys. Just try to stay at my house next time. You'll be safer there," replied Seigai.

"Okay, okay," spoke Flandre.

Seigai and Flandre made their way for Seigai's house. Seigai got nervous as they made their way into the woods. He got the same feeling as he did when he first met Flandre.

"Do you feel that?" asked Seigai.

"I'm scared," spoke Flandre.

The feeling was a lot stronger than it was the last time. Seigai looked up to see the ripple effect on the sky. It was much more widespread than it was the last time. As the flash appeared, twenty-five armored men descended from the sky. One of them turned to speak to Seigai.

"Hand the girl over," spoke the man.

Seigai hesitated. He knew there was no way the pair of them could take on that many of them at once. They had all already armed themselves, with their cannons up on their shoulders.

"Well, giving up isn't an option. Might as well at least put up as much of a fight as we can. Maybe we can take down a few of them," spoke Seigai.

Flandre nodded, knowing they had to at least try to do something. Seigai had already charged his energy into his fists.

"It seems you would rather act foolishly. Very well then, open fire!" shouted the man.

As the group was about to start their attack, another ripple pattern appeared in the sky, followed by another flash. Then it felt as though time itself stood still. Seigai braced himself for what was about to come. Flandre, however, appeared to smile.

Time moved again for Seigai. He saw several small explosions coming from about half of the armored men in front of him. Near them stood a silver haired maid.

"Sakuya-san!" shouted Flandre.

"Spell card, Divine Spear: Spear the Gungnir!" came a shout from near the maid. A spear of red magic made it's way through five of the armored men, causing their armored suits to explode, erupting in a small chain of fire balls.

"Remilia onee-chan!" shouted Flandre.

"Spell card, Love Sign: Master Spark!" came another shout from the same area. A wave of energy took out another five of the armored men.

"Black-white nee-san!" shouted Flandre.

After the trio of Remilia, Sakuya, and Marisa struck, ten armored men were left fully able, while five were injured from Sakuya's initial strike.

"What!" shouted the leader of the group.

"Well, I'm not about to let them have all the fun," spoke Seigai, as he ran forward. The leader was his first target. He destroyed his cannons with his first pair of strikes, then hit the armored man's midsection, damaging the suit to the point of exploding.

Flandre smiled as she let loose a barrage of bullets onto those in front of her. The stunned men took several hits, two took too many and exploded, leaving twelve left. At that point, the group finally opened fire on everyone. Seigai weaved through the stream of bullets in front of him to take out another man. Flandre ran into the crowd and took down one herself with a quick barrage of bullets.

Sakuya charged into the crowd. A group of three tried to take her, but as they fired a few spherical bursts in her direction, they saw her vanish. The men were confused until the one in the rear of the group screamed out as several knives made their way into his back.

"You should be more alert," spoke Sakuya, as she threw two pairs of knives at the other two, taking out their cannons. Sakuya finished the group off with a quick barrage of bullets.

Marisa found another group of three to take on, using her magic to create a quick stream of bullets. The group of three thought they could overwhelm Marisa with rapid bursts from their cannons, but failed. Their attempt was enough to make Marisa laugh.

"If that's the best you can do, then you don't stand a chance," spoke Marisa, and she took out one of the armored men with a quick barrage. The other pair split up, trying to flank Marisa. Marisa opted to go after the man on her left, knocking him back with a quick burst. Marisa saw a stream of bullets heading her way from the other man, and was quick to evade, allowing the bullets to strike the other man, resulting in his end. Marisa went straight after the next man and let out a pair of lasers. The man was stunned from hitting his partner, and didn't think to avoid Marisa's attack until it was too late, resulting in his demise.

Remilia found herself with another trio. The three recognized the vampire as the sibling of the vampire they were charged with recovering. They knew that even though she wasn't as strong as her sister, she was still a fearsome opponent to deal with, and wasted no time in trying to blanket her with a massive barrage of bullets.

"My my, is this all you can do?" asked Remilia, as she took to the skies. She weaved through the bullets shot in her direction, heading down towards the group at full speed. The three panicked and opted to run out of the way. Remilia charged straight for one of the man, impaling him with a single, quickly thrown bullet. Remilia watched as the other pair continued to run. She studied the path of her targets and let loose a quick barrage of large bullets heading in their direction. Each bullet was as big as the men they targeted. They exploded as soon as they were hit.

The final man knew he was severely outnumbered. He watched as his comrades fell in a fight that should have been easy for them.

"_All we had to do was kill off one youkai and take back that weakened vampire girl. This was supposed to be an easy mission! Where did it go wrong!"_ thought the man as he activated the jets hidden in his boots. He took off to the sky, and punched on the keys on the armor's right arm. In response, the sky before him started to ripple.

"_Home free!" _thought the man, as Flandre appeared in front of him.

"And then there were none!" shouted Flandre, as she fired off a quick burst at point-blank range. The man's armor quickly exploded, resulting in the portal he tried to open closing. Flandre suddenly felt weak and fell to the ground, prompting Seigai to catch her once again.

"You seem to do that a lot," spoke Seigai.

Flandre nodded as Seigai stood her back up.

"Flandre!" shouted Remilia, as she ran forward and embraced her sister.

"I was so worried about you!" shouted Remilia.

"I missed you, Onee-chan!" shouted Flandre, as she hugged Remilia back.

"Thank goodness the young mistress is okay," spoke Sakuya.

"More like thank goodness she didn't wipe out everyone in this place... wherever we are," spoke Marisa.

Sakuya approached Seigai, and offered her hand.

"Thank you for looking after the young mistress," spoke Sakuya.

"No problem, Miss Sakuya," replied Seigai.

"So what's your name?" asked Marisa.

"Yes, I would like to know the name of the one who helped my sister," spoke Remilia.

"Seigai, Seigai Urufu, formerly known as Gen'ichiro Ookami," replied Seigai.

"Formerly known?" asked Sakuya.

"Was that your original name?" asked Flandre.

"Yep, it was," replied Seigai.

"You look like a human, but you aren't, are you?" asked Marisa.

"Correct. I am a youkai inhabiting a human body. My body is slowly becoming that of a full-blooded youkai, though," explained Seigai.

"Seems you have quite the history," spoke Sakuya.

"Are you a native of this place?" asked Remilia.

"Yes, I am. I don't suppose you know what this place is?" asked Seigai.

"All we know is that the young mistress was here and we had to come save her," replied Sakuya.

"I see, well, seems I have a lot to tell you, then, but to sum it up, you're not in Gensokyo anymore," spoke Seigai.


	2. Kidnapping

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; Guyver is property of Yoshiki Takaya_

**Chapter 2 – Kidnapping**

"You're not in Gensokyo anymore," spoke Seigai to the group of Marisa, Remilia, and Sakuya.

"You mean we're in the outside world?" asked Marisa.

"Not quite," spoke Seigai.

"We're in a parallel dimension, right?" asked Sakuya.

"Correct. How did you know?" asked Seigai.

"I'm sensitive to such things as a result of my manipulations over time and space. This place... it just feels different. I can't really describe the feeling I get from it in any other way," replied Sakuya.

"Another dimension?" asked Marisa.

"Never read about that in any of those books you stole?" asked Remilia.

"I don't get too far into the really boring ones," replied Marisa.

"Then why don't you return them once in a while? I do grow tired of hearing Patchy complain about you," spoke Remilia.

"I'll return them eventually," replied Marisa.

Remilia planted her hand on her face, muttering something about how many times she had heard that from the witch.

"This isn't the time for this," spoke Sakuya, "We need to find a way to get back."

"Easier said than done," spoke Seigai, "We kinda just wiped out everyone who had an idea of how to do that."

"That may be, but I doubt it's the last we've seen of them. Next time we have a run in with them, we need to find a way to capture one of them," spoke Sakuya.

"At the very least, we need to get one of those armor suits. Seems they have some kind of portal generator built into them," spoke Seigai.

"Portal generator?" asked Marisa.

"Right, I don't suppose any of you would know much about the technology of this world. They could be from your world, outside the barrier, but I'm pretty sure they're from this world," spoke Seigai.

"What makes you think that?" asked Sakuya.

"They wouldn't need to come to this world otherwise," spoke Seigai.

"They could have arrived here by accident," replied Sakuya.

"I was playing with things when I ended up here," spoke Flandre.

"That's also true, but highly unlikely," replied Seigai.

"Why?" asked Flandre.

"The fact that they found you so easily," replied Seigai.

"Eh?" asked Flandre.

"There are an infinite number of parallel worlds. If you really just ended up in a random one, they'd never be able to find you. They could find thousands upon thousands of worlds just like this one, but it would be near impossible for them to find this one, and certainly not this quickly. The 'address' of this world must have been put into their portal generators, as well as the address of your world," replied Seigai.

"I think I remember Patchouli talking about something like this once, about 'parallel dimensions,' as you call it. She read about it in a book she acquired from a certain shop," spoke Remilia.

"I remember the day she bought that. Rinnosuke was really stubborn about that one. Patchy sure drives a hard bargain," replied Marisa.

"I hope Patchouli will be alright. Meiling isn't the world's best guard," spoke Remilia.

"Those guys seem to catch onto things quickly. I just hope we'll be able to beat them again. Once they realize all of you are here, they'll likely send more, better skilled individuals," spoke Seigai, "Not to mention this world seems to weaken all of you."

"What are you talking about? I don't feel any weaker than before," spoke Remilia.

"Hm?" asked Seigai.

"Neither do I," replied Sakuya.

"I feel fine," spoke Marisa.

"I don't! I can't even 'kyuu' anything!" shouted Flandre.

"Flandre hasn't been able to use any of her advanced techniques since she arrived here, and the basic ones wear her out," spoke Seigai.

"I wonder... Love Sign: Master Spark!" shouted Marisa, as she opened up a hole in forest canopy, revealing the sky, showing the first signs of dawn.

"That little toy of yours does all the work. Let me see something... Scarlet Sign: Scarlet Shoot!" shouted Remilia. Several shots of red streamed into the sky following the call.

"Works just fine," spoke Remilia.

"I equally feel nothing," spoke Sakuya.

"Very curious..." spoke Seigai.

"Is that the sun?" asked Remilia.

"It is getting close to dawn. Uh... well, I don't know how I'm going to write this one off, but I guess you'll all have to come to my house for the time being," spoke Seigai.

"Indeed, I don't want to burst into flames," spoke Flandre.

"Burst into... Flandre, were you doing _that _again?" asked Remilia.

"He bought it, though. He even made sure not to put garlic in the food he made me!" shouted Flandre, while bearing a huge grin.

"Did I miss something?" asked Seigai.

"Flandre likes to make fun of people who believe in vampire stereotypes," explained Remilia.

"None of it's true, is it?" asked Seigai.

"Sunlight weakens us, but beyond that, no, none of it's true," spoke Remilia.

Seigai stared straight at Flandre, who only continued to bear a grin.

"Don't feel bad, I fell for it, too. Then again, this one played along with it," spoke Marisa, while staring at Remilia.

"I said I was sickly to throw you off. It obviously didn't work," spoke Remilia.

"Uh... let's go," spoke Seigai, as he led the way to his house.

"I just hope that brother of mine is already home and asleep," spoke Seigai.

"How many other people live at your house?" asked Sakuya.

"Officially three, though the one guy is never around. The one guy who's there almost always stays in the basement, so we won't have to worry about him. My brother is the only one I'm worried about," replied Seigai.

"They won't cause problems, will they?" asked Sakuya.

"I doubt it. If they did, as soon as you pulled out your knife collection, they would back off," replied Seigai, "Though, it might be hard to play off those wings."

"Just say what you said before," spoke Flandre.

"Yeah, hopefully that will work," spoke Seigai.

After walking along for a few minutes, the group arrived at Seigai's house. Seigai noted his brother's car was already there, and made his way slowly to the door. He peaked inside, seeing the usual sight of his brother passed out on the couch in front of the television.

"Okay, he's sleeping. Just be quiet, and we'll be alright," spoke Seigai, as he led the group of girls to his room.

"Not exactly what I'm used to," spoke Remilia.

"It's not a mansion, but it's my home," replied Seigai.

"Where is your bed?" asked Marisa.

"Don't have one. All I have is a sleeping bag... oh... that could present a problem. Hmm... well, I have a spare blanket... between that and the sleeping bag, there's enough room for five people to sleep here comfortably," replied Seigai.

"This is what you call comfortable?" asked Remilia, as she took a seat in one of the chairs.

"I feel like I'm falling into this thing," spoke Remilia.

"Sorry, it was free. I guess I can just sit on the floor. I only have one other chair in here, unfortunately. Never really thought I would have so many guests in here at once," spoke Seigai.

"I have no problem, but..." spoke Sakuya, as she pointed at Flandre and Marisa trying to take the other seat.

"Oh dear," spoke Seigai.

"I was here first!" shouted Flandre.

"I just saved you! I get the chair!" shouted Marisa.

"No fair! Remilia onee-chan!" shouted Flandre.

"Leave your sister out of this!" shouted Marisa.

"Just use me as a chair, Flandre, I don't mind," replied Seigai.

"Well... okay," spoke Flandre.

"_Thank goodness... the last thing I need is for those two to engage in a danmaku battle in my room,"_ thought Seigai.

Flandre smiled as she sat down on Seigai's lap; he didn't seem to mind too much.

"So, now what?" asked Remilia.

"Well, we could start with how all of you got here. Might provide some clues," spoke Seigai.

"I was about to suggest that very thing," spoke Sakuya, "This whole mess started a few days ago."

A fairly normal day began in Gensokyo, at least as normal as things were in Gensokyo. Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae had recently solved an incident which led to the revival of the saint known as Byakuren Hijiri. Several of the fairies had been in disagreement over some matter, but even they had settled down.

This pattern was evident in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, as well. Sakuya was busy tending to the cleaning, as she always did, making sure the mansion was in perfect shape for when Remilia and Flandre would wake up later in the day. Meiling was keeping an eye out for anyone attempting to enter the mansion between her naps, making sure not to be asleep should Marisa show herself. Patchouli was reading over something in the Voile Library, while Koakuma was gathering more books on the subject. Remilia herself was still fast asleep, showing no signs of stirring. Flandre was already awake, always waking up sometime in the early afternoon. She quietly made her way up the stairs from the cellar. In the time following the mist incident, Remilia had decided to give Flandre more freedom, allowing her to go throughout the mansion. At first, she was only allowed out under the supervision of Sakuya, but after having finally learned some degree of control, she was finally allowed to go off on her own.

Flandre noticed the fairies cleaning a section of the hallway. Nothing big, just routine cleaning. Apparently there was some kind of stubborn stain there, as the fairies were having difficulty in cleaning it.

"Hey!" shouted Flandre, getting the attention of the group of fairies.

"Mistress Flandre?" asked a fairy in a red maid outfit. She was in charge of a small group of fairies wearing blue maid outfits.

"Need some help?" asked Flandre.

"Oh, no, nothing were we can't handle," replied the fairy, as she continued to aid the others.

Flandre looked over at the stubborn stain. Apparently some insects had managed their way into the mansion. They were killed as soon as they were found, and the hole they came through sealed. However, they ended up smearing a lot of the bodies, hence the problem they were facing. Flandre knelt down, took one of the cleaning cloths the fairies were using, and helped them anyway, wanting to have something to do for a few moments before she went to see what Sakuya was doing.

"There, better!" shouted Flandre, as she handed the cleaning cloth back to the fairy she had taken it from.

"Thank you, Mistress Flandre," spoke the fairy. The group moved on to look for any spots they may have missed while cleaning the hall. Flandre made her way towards the kitchen, where she noted Sakuya was already preparing her breakfast.

"Ah, it's the young mistress. I noticed you were awake. Your breakfast will be ready within a few minutes," spoke Sakuya.

"Thank you, Sakuya-san!" replied Flandre as she made her way to the dining area.

Sakuya soon brought out a small assortment of breakfast cakes and tea for Flandre, placing a smile on Flandre's face. She enjoyed these meals the most. Flandre was about to dig in when she remembered about minding her manners, something both Sakuya and Remilia had been doing their best to teach the vampire of. Their efforts were paying off to some extent, though Flandre would often forget about etiquette when dining alone, as she often did for breakfast. Sakuya smiled as she saw Flandre minding herself as she ate.

After finishing, Flandre opted to walk out into the courtyard. She wondered if she should get a parasol, but opted not to, seeing as she didn't like carrying them around. Remilia and Sakuya thought it convenient for Flandre to avoid carrying one; since Flandre is also subject to being weakened by the sun, it provides for making it easier to restrain Flandre, should she lose control while outside.

"I don't see what's so bad about the sun. It's warm and pleasant, even if it makes it harder to 'kyuu' things," spoke Flandre as she made her way over to the gate. She noticed Meiling suddenly stand at attention as Flandre approached.

"Hi Meiling!" shouted Flandre.

"Oh, it's you, Mistress Flandre. I thought you were Sakuya," replied Meiling, sounding a little relieved while slightly more nervous at the same time.

"I just wanted to be outside. It's boring before Remilia Onee-chan wakes," spoke Flandre.

"Oh, I see. Well, you can join me here, if you like. Maybe you'll get to see Marisa," spoke Meiling.

"_And help me keep her out of the mansion for once," _thought Meiling.

"I don't think Black-White Nee-Chan is coming today. She said something about having something to do today," spoke Flandre.

"She did?" replied Meiling.

"Yeah, something about practicing on her skills and ice fairies," spoke Flandre.

"Odd pair of things to put together," spoke Meiling, while taking a quick look out towards the land beyond, making sure there was no sign of Marisa at the moment. All that could be seen was a pair of fairies off in the distance, playing some kind of game. This didn't get past Flandre.

"Oh, they look like they're having fun!" shouted Flandre, as she headed off towards the fairies.

"Mistress, don't go too far. You know your sister doesn't like it when you stray too far from the mansion without her," spoke Meiling.

"I won't leave the island," replied Flandre, as she ran off.

The two fairies stopped in their tracks as they saw Flandre approach. They looked past her to see how close they were to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, then back at Flandre. The pair shook as Flandre approached. Most of those who had been in the area knew of the reputation of the residents of the mansion, and feared Flandre the most. Her more calm, reserved personality was something new, not well known to those outside the mansion who only knew terror when faced with Flandre.

One of the fairies was wearing a pink dress with a white long sleeved shirt underneath with pink hair tied in a ponytail and red eyes. The other fairy was wearing a red dress with short sleeves, with red hair flowing down her back. The pink fairy had one pair of translucent blue wings, while the red fairly had two pairs of red translucent wings.

"Kanna, that's her, isn't it?" spoke the red fairy.

"Yeah, En, that's her," replied the pink fairy.

"Now what?" asked Kanna.

"We hope to respawn by the end of the day," replied En.

"Hi!" shouted Flandre.

Both of the fairies held each other close in fear, preparing to be blown to bits or something worse.

"What's with you two?" asked Flandre.

"Just make it quick, okay?" asked En.

"I don't want to die!" shouted Kanna.

"Huh? Quick? Die?" asked Flandre, "Is that what kind of game you were playing?"

"Huh?" asked En.

"Can I join?" asked Flandre.

"Uh..." spoke Kanna.

"Sure," replied En, with a tone of caution.

En and Kanna let go of one another, gently flying over towards Flandre.

"We were just looking for some flowers," spoke En.

"Pretty pink ones. I can make flowers multiply with my power, so I was hoping to find some pretty pink ones, and make a whole bunch of them," replied Kanna.

"That sounds like fun! It's like a hunt! What's your power?" asked Flandre of En.

"Oh, I control fire. Wouldn't really help for this kind of thing," replied En.

"Fire can be fun to play with at night, though. Like this one time when Sakuya was able to get something that made fire change color, and Patchouli was able to make some more of it, and we got to have a lot of fun that night," spoke Flandre.

"That does sound like fun. Let's see if we can find some pink flowers," spoke En.

"I know where there are some!" shouted Flandre.

"You do?" asked Kanna.

"Yeah, I saw some by the edge of the lake, in a small meadow," replied Flandre.

"I didn't see it when we came here. Maybe we missed it?" asked En.

"Maybe. Lead the way," spoke Kanna.

The pair of fairies were still very cautious. They kept a good distance back from Flandre. They were worried she was leading them into a trap, and prepared to leave the moment Flandre tried to do something to them. The young vampire was leading the pair along a path to the water's edge. After walking for a few minutes, Flandre turned off of the path. She moved some of the tall grass in her path aside, and soon paused. The fairies caught up with her, and looked out ahead of them. To their amazement, they saw a small meadow before them, full of flowers of all kinds. It didn't take long for the pair to notice some pink flowers scattered about.

"These will do perfectly!" shouted Kanna.

"Thank you!" shouted En.

The pair flied over to the flowers. Kanna held her hands out in front of her, and soon there were more pink flowers. More continued to appear until there was a patch of nothing but pink in front of the two fairies. Kanna produced a small basket, made out of the grass in front of her, and started to place the flowers in it.

"What are you doing to do with those?" asked Flandre.

"Make flower jewelry. Kanna is really good at it. She even made the hair ornament she wears out of flowers," spoke En, while pointing at Kanna's hair.

While Kanna was picking up the flowers, Flandre could see a small, red flower where Kanna's hair was tied back. Flandre moved her hand to her own ponytail going down the left side of her head.

"I want something like that!" shouted Flandre.

"Hmm... I can make you one, if you'd like," replied Kanna.

The two fairies were less worried now. They figured the rumors were untrue. How could someone so nice be a crazy, powerful person who blows away people for fun?

After Kanna had enough flowers, the trio headed for the water's edge. The pair of fairies liked looking out towards Misty Lake. The view didn't go far, due to the lake's namesake, but it was still a pleasant view nonetheless. Kanna began to fashion a hair ornament for Flandre. The vampire looked on as Kanna used her powers to mold the flowers into something that could be worn. Once Kanna was done, she flew up to Flandre, and placed it on her hair.

"Pretty! It looks cute on you," spoke En.

Flandre looked at her reflection in the lake and smiled.

"It does look pretty! Thank you!" shouted Flandre, as she picked up Kanna, and gave her a hug.

Kanna showed signs of surprise and strain. Flandre realized she was hugging Kanna a little too hard, and let her go.

"Sorry, I usually only hug my sister, and she's a lot bigger and stronger," spoke Flandre.

"It's okay... no harm done," spoke Kanna, while trying to catch her breath.

"Hey En... what would you like?" asked Kanna.

"A bracelet!" shouted En.

"Okay," replied Kanna, as she got to work. While she was working, a figure appeared from the lake. The figure was wearing a strange suit of dark green armor, with a darker mouthpiece and a translucent screen to see out of.

"Flandre Scarlet?" asked the person, his tone giving away his gender.

"That's me!" shouted Flandre.

"You are to come with me," spoke the man.

"Why?" asked Flandre.

"Those are my orders. I will take you by force, if necessary," spoke the man.

"I have to ask my sister first; I promised her I wouldn't leave the island without her permission," spoke Flandre.

"Now," spoke the man, as something emerged form each shoulder.

"What are those?" asked Flandre.

The man fired out a few bullets from the shoulder mounted turrets that appeared. Kanna and En jumped back as they blew up the flowers they had gathered.

"Hey!" shouted Flandre, "That wasn't nice!"

"Come with me, or I'll shoot you!" shouted the man.

Flandre held her hand out in front of her, near the man. The man readied to fire back when he stopped, grabbing his chest in pain.

"Kyuu!" shouted Flandre.

The man exploded, armor and all. Pieces of metal and flesh rained down as a result. The pair of Kanna and En held on to each other in fear once again, worried Flandre was about to do the same to them. Flandre turned, scaring the pair more as they could see the blood dripping down her face. Flandre licked it off, and soon a grin was upon her face once more.

"Meany. We're safe now," spoke Flandre, thinking the two were scared of the armored man as opposed to her. The pair appeared to be relieved until thirty more armored men appeared out of the mist. The two fairies held each other tight and pointed behind Flandre.

The vampire frowned before turning around, seeing the sight behind her. One of the armored men approached Flandre. The armor this one was wearing was different from the others. Instead of being a dark, green tinted color, the man wore a brown, red tinted armor.

"You will be coming with us now, Flandre Scarlet," spoke the red man.

Flandre held up her hand again, but was forced to move when several shots were fired straight at her from the group. Flandre and the fairies started to dodge through the streams of bullets fired in their direction. Flandre countered by releasing several shots in their direction, hitting a couple of the slower men, but not defeating any of them. Flandre's attack only prompted the group to increase their rate of fire, making it more difficult for Flandre's group to dodge. One bullet struck Flandre's shoulder, causing her to wince slightly at the pain.

"That does it! Taboo: Four of a Kind!" shouted Flandre. Three copies of Flandre appeared. All of them began firing bullets into the crowd of armored men. Two of the men took too many hits, resulting in their armor suits exploding. The red armored man grumbled about the pair being too weak while the rest were careful to avoid taking any hits from the four Flandres.

"Take out those copies, I'll take care of the girl," spoke the man in red. The other soldiers responded by targeting Flandre's clones. The three did their best to avoid taking hits, but they weren't as nimble as the original Flandre, resulting in them starting to take hits. The red man targeted Flandre, keeping her from being able to bring forth any more of her spell cards.

"Give up, just come with us little one, and it'll all be over," spoke the red man, as he closed the distance between himself and Flandre.

"You want to play? Okay, we'll play. We'll play until one of us breaks!" shouted Flandre, as she started to focus herself on the man in red. The red armored soldier activated the jets in his boots and took to the skies with Flandre, doing well to avoid taking a single hit.

"You're good," spoke Flandre, as she continued.

While Flandre was fighting the red armored man, her clones were finally taking enough of a beating to be taken out. All three were defeated at about the same time. Flandre could feel it when the spell broke.

"Oh, you beat my spell? Okay, I have another one!" shouted Flandre, "Taboo: Lävatein!"

The man in red armor seemed to realize what was going on as he was quick to get out of the path of the huge sword of fire. Most of the armor men were able to get out of the way, save for one who was too slow and ended up being bisected by it before his armor exploded. Bullets appeared from the path of the sword and Flandre swung it again. The group of armored men were more prepared for the second swing, able to avoid taking further hits. The cannons on the shoulder of the man with the red armor started to glow before firing off a small stream of human sized bullets. Flandre didn't notice while swinging around the Lävatein, and ended up being hit by the stream, and knocked back down onto the ground, her spell broken by the force of the hits.

The fairies who were with Flandre found a place to hide after Flandre started using her spell cards, making sure to stay out of her way. When Kanna saw Flandre knocked back, though, she decided she was done with hiding.

"We have to help her!" shouted Kanna.

"Agreed, but don't be reckless," spoke En, as the pair leapt out from the brush and began firing into the crowd.

A couple of the soldiers who weren't paying attention were hit, losing one of their shoulder cannons, though none of them were defeated.

"Bothersome things," spoke the man in red armor, and he pulled out a small device from the side of his armor. As he pointed it forward, a beam emerged from it, giving him a beam sword, He ran through the small barrage and impaled Kanna with the weapon.

Kanna stood stunned as she looked at the weapon going through her body. She coughed up blood from the strike.

"Go away," spoke the man in red armor as he charged a single large bullet, and fired it point blank at Kanna, blowing her body apart.

En stopped her barrage, and looked on horrified at what she saw. She knew her friend would regenerate; the pair had been killed before and knew what happened when they died, but the brutality of the attack was enough to send her into a rage.

"Why you!" shouted En. Her red wings lit ablaze with flame as she looked on at the man before her. Fire surrounded En's fists to match her wings, the flames pulsing with her anger.

"Oh," spoke the man with red armor, as he used his suit to scan the fairy.

"Ah, I see. Daiyousei class fire manipulator. Strong enough to put up a worthy fight to a normal human and some of the weaker youkai. Not at all a match for someone like me," spoke the man with red armor.

En wasn't paying attention to anything the man said as she launched a stream of half-human sized fire bullets in rapid succession. The man in red armor was able to dodge without a problem. Some of his slower soldiers were hit, one of them exploded into a ball of fire from taking too many hits. The little fairy ended her barrage and pulled out her own spell card.

"Fire Sign 'Flaming River!'" shouted En.

The fire around En's hands intensified as she shot out a mass barrage of human sized fire bullets. The bullets were aimed at the ground, rather than at the soldiers themselves, leaving a few of them confused, until the bullets merged into a literal river of fire below them. Though the fire river looked dangerous to touch, it didn't cause any damage to the land near it. One of the soldiers, however, was quick to realize the river posed a very real threat to them as part of his armor was damaged from contact with it. Once the river was fully formed, fire bullets rose up from it, while En started launching spherical bursts of bullets while moving around, throwing a barrage at the group of soldiers. A few took hits, but by this point, most of the weaker soldiers in the group had already been taken down. The man with the red armor began to laugh.

"Ho ho, a feisty one, eh? Worthy of taking a sample; we've yet to retrieve one from a fire manipulator of this class," spoke the red man as he dashed towards En.

En continued firing her bursts of bullets, hoping to wear down some of the soldiers before the spell timed out. She tried her best to evade the man with the red armor. The red man pulled a new weapon out; a blade of some kind that appeared to be hollow. The red man flew towards En, swinging the weapon. En yelped at the blade cut her left shoulder, drawing blood. The strange weapon appeared to absorb it into it's hollow handle. The red man backed off, nearly being hit by one of En's bursts, though he didn't appear to be in panic over it. He sheathed the weapon into a compartment in his armor.

"Well, that should prove to be useful for later. You've served your purpose now; time for this little charade to end," spoke the red man, as he pulled out his beam sword and charged forth. First, he charged and shot out another barrage of human sized bullets, breaking En's spell, and leaving her disoriented for a few moments, long enough for the red man to give her the run through.

En gasped at the pain, spitting up blood onto the man's armor, but she only offered up a small smile as she gripped the beam going through her. The red man looked surprised at the strange action, wondering what was about to follow. En's hands flared again, discharging fire elemental energy into the weapon, causing it to light into flames and explode, knocking back En.

The little fairly looked on, hoping she had at least managed to take down the one who hurt her friend. She was breathing heavily, her breath made difficult due to a punctured lung. The other soldiers appeared to be stunned at the sight, not firing back at En, leaving the fairy wondering what was going on.

"_Are they scared of me?"_ thought En, as she looked on. She soon realized the soldiers were not stunned out of fear as the man with red armor appeared out of the smoke of the explosion. The armor on his right hand appeared to have some scorch marks on it, but there was no sign of damage beyond that.

"Nice little trick; too bad it didn't work," spoke the man in red armor.

Flandre had regained her composure and was looking on at the confrontation. When she saw En using a spell card, she opted to wait it out, rather than get in En's way. She was about to jump in to help En when she saw what En did to the beam sword. Flandre smiled at the action, but frowned upon seeing the man emerge from the smoke. Flandre didn't like the feeling she was getting, and readied herself to protect her new friend.

"My patience is gone," spoke the man in red armor as he activated the jets on his armor. His speed increased to the point where En lost track of him, until he appeared right before her. Before En could react, the man with red armor blew off the left half of En's head at point blank, spattering blood on his armor. En's body tumbled to the ground, the fire around her hands and wings disappearing. Flandre caught her body, and set it down gently, allowing En a chance to regenerate peacefully.

"That was mean! Shooting her like that!" shouted Flandre, as she pulled out another spell card.

"Forbidden Barrage 'Starbow Break!'" shouted Flandre.

A mass barrage of half-human sized rainbow bullets flew out into the group of soldiers. The barrage came much faster than that from En, hitting several of the soldiers, though not incapacitating any of them. The man in red as able to weave through the bullets and fired back a barrage of his own, attempting to break Flandre's spell. Flandre was able to get out of the path of the bullets while continuing her own barrage. The other soldiers began to fire back, hoping to overwhelm Flandre. Even though Flandre was being targeted with a mass barrage, all of the blasts were spherical bursts, and appeared in a fairly predictable pattern, allowing Flandre to evade without much effort. The man with the red armor was the only one not firing; he was studying Flandre, trying to find a weak point in her movement he could exploit. The red man noticed Flandre was now moving in pattern with the bullets and charged up a stream of human sized bullets. The red man pointed his weapon toward Flandre and fired out a small burst of human sized bullets. Flandre didn't notice until the last moment, and was hit by a couple, breaking her spell.

"Ow! That hurt!" shouted Flandre as she turned her attention to the man in red armor. She raised her palm up in the direction of the red man, trying to find his eye.

The red man caught on quickly to what Flandre was attempting to do and moved quickly, hoping to break her lock on him. Flandre smiled as an explosion erupted from the red man.

Some of the other soldiers paused, this time out of fear of Flandre, while others intensified their blasts while being sure to move, knowing what it would mean to stay still in light of Flandre's ability.

"Kyuu!" shouted Flandre, as another of the soldiers went up in an explosion. Her target was one of the soldiers who had stopped moving. Flandre targeted another and did the same, looking for a third before she was knocked down into the ground by a quick burst of bullets.

The red man appeared again. One of his shoulder cannon's was destroyed. He had moved out of the way of Flandre's attack at the last second, preventing his destruction.

"It seems we may be underestimating you a bit, but that oversight ends now," spoke the red man.

The soldiers who had paused out of fear resumed their attack with new vigor upon seeing that their leader had survived. Flandre was able to get herself up before being struck with another barrage of bullets. There was a burn mark on Flandre's right shoulder from where she had been struck a moment ago.

"Q.E.D. 'Ripples of 495 Years!'" shouted Flandre. Flandre started firing letting out repeated bursts of bullets from her person. She only used this spell when she became frustrated over something, and the previous hit had riled her up.

Many of the soldiers felt safe from what appeared to be a fairly simple pattern. Their ease ended when the rippling waves of bullets started to intersect with one other, creating what appeared to be random formations of bullets. The speed with which the waves were launched was more than some of the soldiers could handle. Three of them were taken out after a few seconds of the barrage, while several others were hit, many losing their weapons. Those who still could fired burst after burst, but they appeared to be facing a losing battle.

The man with the red armor kept his distance, knowing it would be foolish to try and rush in close to Flandre with her current spell. He knew he could dodge through without much difficulty and outlast the spell if needed, but he was aware that many of his soldiers could not, which would leave him at a disadvantage

"Guess I'll have to test _it_, then," spoke the red man, as he activated a device in his armor. The cover over his eyes appeared to change from a dark red tint to a light red tint, casting red light over the man's face. Five small devices emerged from his armor, burrowing into the ground near Flandre.

"Let's see how you like this one, little girl," spoke the man in red armor, as he set the devices he placed in the ground to target Flandre.

"Six Point Barrage!" shouted the man, as his armor and the devices charged themselves. A few seconds later, the red man and the devices fired a spiraling pattern of human sized bullets in the direction of Flandre. The spiral pattern, coupled with the speed and size of the bullets didn't allow Flandre enough time to notice and react, not expecting to be hit from the ground. Flandre's spell was broken and she was knocked out cold from the hit. Flandre's body hit the ground with a thud, kicking up a little dust. The devices that attacked Flandre exploded around her, overloading from their use.

"Hmm... not perfect, but good enough. It got the job done, at least," spoke the red man, as he approached Flandre, making sure she was out. Her clothes were burnt and torn in several places, and there appeared to be bruises forming on her arms. The red man could see that Flandre was indeed unconscious, and not playing dead.

"What do we do now, Commander Jin?" asked one of the soldiers.

"Take her back to the base," replied the man in red armor, "and prepare her for study."

One of the soldiers approached Flandre and picked her up, hefting the girl over his shoulder before heading back towards the lake. The red man looked over the area. He noticed a flower hair tie where Flandre had fallen. The man stomped on it before walking over to where En's body lay. He noted how En's head was already starting to reform. Commander Jin kicked the body several times before firing a couple of bullets into it. After reducing En's body to a bloody mess of flesh and bone, the commander joined the rest of his men.

An hour and a half later, Kanna and En had fully reformed. En was the first to return. She had a bad headache, but was fine otherwise. She figured it was probably due to what killed her. Kanna took a little longer, since her body was completely destroyed.

"Uh... what happened. Was that all just some strange dream," spoke Kanna.

"I wish it was. It wasn't, though," spoke En, while pointing at the place she woke up. There was blood all over the place from where her body had been torn up.

"What happened to you?" asked Kanna.

"I had half of my head blown off by one of those... things. I managed to get a couple, though," replied En.

"Ow... oh, what's this?" asked Kanna, while looking down on the ground. She noticed it was Flandre's hair ornament.

"Was this..." asked Kanna.

"It was; it was the ornament you made for Flandre," spoke En, while looking over the ruined flowers.

"What does this mean?" asked Kanna, "Did she not like it?"

"I don't think she did that... I think something terrible happened," spoke En.

"What do you mean? Flandre is supposed to be so strong. There's no way some random group of people could do something to harm her, right?" asked Kanna.

"You didn't see as much of their fight as I did. They were really good at danmaku, except they weren't using the spell card rules; they were really trying to hurt her. I ended up fighting the one guy, with that red armor. I went all out and couldn't do anything to him. I used Flaming River and everything," spoke En.

"She probably took care of them and went back to that mansion, and did this after I made it for her," spoke Kanna.

"Well... I'm going to go to the mansion to see for sure. If she's there, I'll ask her why she did that to the ornament you made for her," spoke En. She realized Kanna couldn't understand how terrible the armored men were; Kanna was a much younger fairy, and still fairly childish, while En was a little over two hundred years old, and much more experienced. En was more worried about Flandre, and was hoping to find Flandre at the mansion.

"I'll go with you; I don't think it's safe to go there alone," spoke Kanna.

"If you want, but be careful, okay? I hear the guard and maid are really strong," replied En.

The pair of fairies made their way for the Scarlet Devil Mansion, being wary of any traps that may have been put in place to take care of intruders. The pair arrived at the front gate to see Meiling standing guard. At least she appeared to be standing.

"Is she asleep?" asked Kanna.

"Can't be; she's probably faking it to lure in trespassers," spoke En, while slowly approaching.

"Excuse me," spoke En.

Meiling didn't respond.

"Um, miss gate guard?" asked En.

En walked up in front of her and touched her on the shoulder before pulling back. She noted Meiling didn't respond.

"_Either she's really good at acting, or she really is asleep. Is this really the powerful gate guard I've heard so much about?"_ thought En, reflecting on what she had heard of the mansion from other fairies she met in the area.

"I heard she sleeps a lot while guarding," spoke Kanna.

"Really?" asked En, looking back and forth between Kanna and Meiling.

"Uh... I guess those fairies I talked to showed up when she was actually awake. What kind of guard sleeps like this on the spot?" spoke En, while looking straight at Meiling.

"Should we wake her?" asked Kanna.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Let's just fly over the gate and knock on the door. I'm sure there's someone guarding the mansion somewhere," replied En.

The pair flew over the gate and made their way for the front door of the mansion. En knocked loudly while shouting hello at the door. The pair waited for several moments before a small group of fairy maids opened the door.

"Oh, are you hoping to work here?" asked a fairy maid.

"No, we're looking for Flandre," replied En.

"Mistress Flandre? Oh... uh... hold on a moment," replied the maid, confused as to why a fairy would be interested in speaking with the younger mistress of the mansion.

"_She seemed a almost scared. Does Flandre act differently here than when she was with us?"_ thought En.

"I wonder what it would be like to work here? I could tend to the garden. I'm sure I could find all kinds of flowers here to make jewelry out of," spoke Kanna.

"I'm not sure this would be the best place to work. I hear the mistress of this mansion can be quite strict at times. Not to mention having to deal with intruders a lot. I wouldn't want to have to deal with someone just because of something someone else did. Like the scarlet mist incident. I hear half of the maids here were blown away by the shrine maiden and one of her friends," replied En.

"Oh... maybe working here wouldn't be the best idea," spoke Kanna.

At that moment, Sakuya appeared at the door, looking at the two fairies who had arrived.

"How did you get here?" asked Sakuya.

"Uh, we flew over the gate," replied Kanna.

"She was sleeping," replied En, understanding the question.

"I see," spoke Sakuya, while thinking about how bothersome "China" was, "So you wish to see the young mistress?"

"Yes," replied En.

"She's out right now. She should be back soon, though," replied Sakuya.

"She's out," replied En, fear welling up in her.

"Did she cause you trouble," asked Sakuya.

"That's not it... we did run into her earlier, but then something happened," spoke En.

"Something really bad happened," spoke Kanna.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakuya.

En explained to Sakuya what had taken place with the strange armored men who appeared to come out of the lake and the resulting fight. Sakuya didn't seem to buy into the story too much.

"So these strange men came up and attacked the mistress?" asked Sakuya.

"Yes," replied En.

"Because they wanted to take her somewhere?" asked Sakuya.

"Right," replied En.

"Such a strange story," spoke Sakuya, "I don't have time to play games with fairies."

"It's not a game! It really happened!" shouted En.

"Yeah, there really was these strange people! Honest!" shouted Kanna.

"Did the young mistress ask you to do this?" asked Sakuya.

"She didn't!" shouted En.

Sakuya kept a careful eye on the fairies, attempting to see if they were telling the truth. She could tell En was more mature than most of the fairies she was accustomed to dealing with, but at the same time, it was hard to believe a story about strange armored men.

"I see... follow me," spoke Sakuya, as she led the pair of fairies to Meiling. Sakuya frowned before tossing a knife at Meiling, barely missing her ear. It made a loud noise upon embedding itself in the wall.

"Ah! I'm awake! I'm awake! I was just resting my eyes!" shouted Meiling.

"Don't bother with the excuses. Were you awake when Flandre left?" asked Sakuya.

"I was," replied Meiling.

"I trust you reminded her that she is not to leave the island by herself?" asked Sakuya.

"Of course! I know it would be bad if she left on her own and ended up causing an incident," replied Meiling.

"Where did you last see her?" asked Sakuya.

"Heading off with a pair of fairies... they looked kind of like those two," replied Meiling, while pointing at En and Kanna.

"She was with us," spoke Kanna.

"Oh... then with these two... where did she go?" asked Meiling.

"Those strange men must have taken her!" shouted Kanna.

"Again with that... Meiling, go with these two, and see if there is any truth behind what they say. I'll send a group of maids to keep an eye on the gate; don't take more than twenty minutes on this," replied Sakuya.

"Okay," replied Meiling, while bowing slightly to her superior.

"It happened over here," spoke En, while leading the way.

"I hope the young mistress isn't doing something foolish," spoke Sakuya.

The group of Kanna, En, and Meiling arrived at the place where the battle had occurred. En pointed out the scorch marks on the ground, and the blood where her body had ended up in the aftermath.

"See, it really did happen," spoke Kanna.

Meiling was as skeptical as Sakuya, even with seeing the battle worn area. She believed the pair did something to upset Flandre and were killed as a result; the part with the soldiers being some kind of strange dream. Her main concern was what happened to the younger mistress.

"I see... well, I'll tell Sakuya all about it, okay," replied Meiling, as she started to walk back to the mansion. She nearly tripped on something sticking out of the ground.

"Hm? What is this?" spoke Meiling, as she looked down. There was something metallic sticking out of the ground. It appeared to be a brownish red in color. Meiling also noticed something else on the ground nearby; a burnt piece of torn fabric from Flandre's dress.

"That thing... it's the same color as that one armor guy," spoke En, while looking at what Meiling had found.

Meiling's face visibly paled. She was confronted with evidence that fit with the story the pair of fairies had told, and she didn't like the implications. Meiling picked up the device, noticing that it appeared to be burned out.

"Be careful! That thing could be dangerous!" shouted En, remembering well the injuries the strange devices of the armored men could inflict.

"It looks like it's broken," replied Meiling, as she looked it over carefully.

"_I need to show this to Sakuya. This isn't good; something may really have happened to Mistress Flandre. Mistress Remilia will not be pleased,"_ thought Meiling.

"Did you see who had this?" asked Meiling.

"I think he used those after I had been killed; but I'm pretty sure they came from the one armor man. I think he was their leader," spoke En.

"Come with me," spoke Meiling, as she ran back to the mansion, the fairies doing their best to keep up with her.

"Sakuya!" shouted Meiling.

"You're back... what is that? And why are those two with you?" asked Sakuya.

"It seems they may have been telling the truth; that something may have happened to Mistress Flandre. This thing here is something those armor people used," spoke Meiling.

It was Sakuya's turn to grow pale in the face. The idea of someone having the strength to capture Flandre did not appeal to her at all.

"There is one way to know for sure," spoke Sakuya, as she took the device from Meiling.

"There is?" asked Meiling.

"I need to see someone. Keep an eye on the mansion while I am gone, and say nothing of this to Mistress Remilia. If there is truth to this, I will be the one to inform her. There is no need to rile her up over nothing, after all," spoke Sakuya.

"We didn't make this up!" shouted Kanna, as she started to get frustrated with the idea of Sakuya continuing to not believe her and En's story.

"Silence!" shouted Sakuya. Kanna grew quiet.

"I know more about these people than Kanna; may I accompany you?" asked En.

"You may; you can help verify the information he has," spoke Sakuya.

"I want to come, too," spoke Kanna.

"Kanna, I think you should stay here and help out the guard," replied En.

"Eh? I don't need any help," spoke Meiling.

"Yes, you do," replied Sakuya, knowing what En was attempting to do.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I could always use a little more help," replied Meiling.

"Then we're off," spoke Sakuya, as she headed off with En.

The pair flew out past the island, and over Misty Lake, in the direction of the Forest of Magic.

"Where are we headed?" asked En.

"There is someone out here who can tell me what this is and what it's for," replied Sakuya.

"If he says it belongs to these armor people, then will you believe me?" asked En.

"I would have no choice but to believe your strange tale at such a time," replied Sakuya.

The pair made their way through the Forest of Magic. Sakuya knew the paths to take to avoid running into the youkai that frequented the forest. Upon reaching the forest's edge, she spotted her destination.

"We're here," spoke Sakuya, as she stopped in front of Kourindou. She walked inside the shop, motioning for En to follow her.

En was surprised at the items inside the shop; she had never laid eyes before on the objects displayed. She was tempted to touch a small, white, square device before Rinnosuke appeared.

"Please don't touch," spoke Rinnosuke, before noting Sakuya's presence.

"Ah, Sakuya, how nice to see a real customer here," replied Rinnosuke. He had been working on his diary until he noticed the presence of Sakuya and En.

"Who is this here? Is she the younger mistress of the mansion?" asked Rinnosuke.

"Oh, no, this here is a fairy with a rather bizarre tale," replied Sakuya.

"My name is En, and you?"

"Morichika Rinnosuke, so, what brings you here today?"

"I need to employ that ability of yours; I need to know what this is," asked Sakuya, as she handed the device to Rinnosuke. The half-youkai looked over the device, feeling out what it was.

"Hmm... this device is called a 'drone.' It is a weapon that fires out danmaku. No doubt from the outside world. It appears to be damaged, though. Where did you find this?" asked Rinnosuke.

Sakuya paled again; Rinnosuke's analytical skills were perfect, leaving no doubt to the story En had told.

"This was used by a strange man wearing a suit of armor," spoke En.

"A suit of armor?" asked Rinnosuke, thinking of something along the lines of the armor samurai would wear; Rinnosuke had such armor in Kourindou.

"It was something from the outside world, something I've never seen before in Gensokyo," spoke En.

"Like this?" asked Rinnosuke, as he pointed out an armor suit he had.

"No, not like that... like... something... futuristic... it even had these things in the feet that allows the wearer to fly," explained En.

Rinnosuke was puzzled by what seemed to be something from the works of fiction of the outside world.

"Like this?" asked Rinnosuke, as he pulled out a manga volume with the word "Guyver" clearly visible and opened a page portraying a character that also had a strange suit of armor.

"Not quit; more... blocky, but that's really close," replied En.

"Interesting. Perhaps they've advanced their technology further in the outside world," spoke Rinnosuke.

"As much as I would like to debate the technology of the outside world, I have something urgent to tend to. Thank you for you time, Rinnosuke-san," spoke Sakuya.

"Thank you. May I hold on to this?" asked Rinnosuke.

"I'm afraid not; I need to show this to the mistress," replied Sakuya.

"I see. Well, if you find anything else like this, please let me know. I wouldn't mind getting a chance to study it," replied Rinnosuke.

"I'll keep that in mind," spoke Sakuya.

"Good day, Sakuya-san," spoke Rinnosuke, "And to you, En-san."

En nodded as she and Sakuya made their return to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Back at the mansion, as it was nearing dusk, Remilia had risen from her sleep. She called for Sakuya, but was informed of Sakuya's absence, the head maid having to run an errand. Remilia grumbled about it before asking a group of fairy maids to help her dress for the night. Not wanting a meal prepared by the less than able fairy staff, Remilia took her parasol before seeing if Meiling had an idea of what Sakuya was up to. She was surprised to see Kanna with Meiling.

"Meiling!" shouted Remilia.

"Oh, Mistress Remilia," replied Meiling.

"Who?" asked Kanna.

Meiling grabbed the back of Kanna's head, making her bow before her mistress.

"You're not a member of my staff," spoke Remilia, looking over Kanna.

"I'm helping to guard the gate!" shouted Kanna.

"Oh? Find an alarm?" asked Remilia.

Meiling blushed in embarrassment, not having an appropriate response.

"Do you know where Sakuya is?" asked Remilia.

"I believe she was heading to Kourindou," replied Meiling.

"Oh? That shop? I wonder what she needs from there? Well, I'm sure it must be important for her to leave as she did," spoke Remilia.

"Something about this strange object En found," spoke Kanna.

Meiling sweated at the mention of what took place, knowing it would be unwise for her to be the one to tell Remilia.

"Strange object? And who is En?" asked Remilia, while looking straight into Meiling's eyes.

"Well... you see..." stuttered Meiling, thinking of how to phrase her response. She was saved by the return of Sakuya.

"Ah, Sakuya. I hear you needed to see that man for something," spoke Remilia.

"Yes, mistress. I'm afraid something terrible has happened," replied Sakuya.

"Something terrible?" asked Remilia.

"Yes; it would be best if we went inside," replied Sakuya, "Meiling, come as well. You've yet to hear everything."

Meiling nodded as the group headed for the dining area. Once everyone had sat down, Sakuya instructed En to fill in Remilia on what happened. Remilia doubted the story until Meiling and Sakuya explained about the drone they found, and that it verified the story.

Remilia was stunned, not knowing how to respond. Her face kept twisting back and forth between that of anger and tears. Finally she stood up and stared at Sakuya.

"Flandre!" shouted Remilia, as tears made their way from her face.

"Why! Why would someone take her like this!" shouted Remilia, before turning her attention to Meiling and the fairies.

"This is your fault!" shouted Remilia, anger now present in her voice. She flew at the group at high speed, ready to take out her frustrations on the group. Meiling knew not to fight back; Kanna was too scared to fight back, while En took a defensive stance. Sakuya appeared behind Remilia, holding the vampire in her grasp.

"Mistress, taking out your anger on them will solve nothing. We need to find where they have taken Mistress Flandre," spoke Sakuya.

Remilia started kicking furiously, trying to break out of Sakuya's grasp, before finally breaking down and crying onto Sakuya's shoulder.

"It's okay; we'll get her back," spoke Sakuya.

"Flandre..." spoke Remilia, her voice fading as she continued to cry. The trio of Meiling, Kanna, and En understood the situation, and allowed the mistress of the mansion a moment of privacy, knowing they would also be upset if they were in Remilia's situation.


	3. Rescue

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 3 – Rescue**

"So that's how Flandre was captured by those armored men," spoke Seigai.

"Yep, that's what happened," replied Flandre.

"You had me worried sick!" shouted Remilia.

Marisa was chuckling over something, catching the attention of Remilia.

"What's so funny?" asked Remilia.

"You, bawling like a little baby!" shouted Marisa.

"What was that!" shouted Remilia.

"I said... ow!" shouted Marisa, and Sakuya punched her on the head.

"That was in poor taste," spoke Seigai.

"You saying you would cry like that if your brother was taken?" asked Marisa.

"He's not really my brother; I don't have a true sibling, so I can't say for sure one way or the other, but I'm pretty sure I would be upset," replied Seigai, "And if I was in my youkai form, something would cease to exist, whether it be a wall or some random boulder."

"Meh, I wouldn't be upset, ze. I would just go and kick their behinds!" shouted Marisa.

"You'd bawl like a baby for sure; you look the type," spoke Remilia.

"What was that!" shouted Marisa.

"Will you two stop bickering," spoke Sakuya.

Marisa and Remilia grew quiet, though Remilia was wearing a grin, considering it her victory, since it was _her_ maid that ended the arguing.

"So, what happened after that?" asked Seigai.

"We made plans to rescue Mistress Flandre," replied Sakuya.

In the foyer of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Meiling was with the two fairies, En and Kanna, waiting to be summoned.

"I hope Flandre is okay," spoke En.

"The younger mistress is a strong individual; she'll be fine, we just need to find her," spoke Meiling.

"I hope so," spoke Kanna.

After waiting for an hour, Sakuya appeared to summon them back into the dining area.

"You two... did you see where those strange armored men came from?" asked Remilia.

"They came from the direction of the lake. We couldn't see them until they were close by, but that's where they came from," replied En.

"I see. Did you see where they went with my sister?" asked Remilia.

"We were both still regenerating; we didn't see where they went," replied En.

"They most likely returned to the place them came from; if they came in this direction, we would have seen them," spoke Sakuya.

"I was thinking the same thing," replied Remilia.

"This means there are three places those people were likely to come from. A boat on the lake, the human village, or from the base of Youkai Mountain," spoke Sakuya.

"Youkai Mountain?" asked Remilia, "I understand them coming from the human village; there are a good handful of humans who may try to pull something like this, but why the Youkai Mountain?"

"The technology they are using may have come from the Kappa. I doubt the Kappa themselves are responsible, but it's a possibility nonetheless," answered Sakuya.

"I see. I have nothing against the Kappa, but if they are responsible, then they better hope the gods of their mountain are there to save them," spoke Remilia.

"So we do we search for them?" asked Meiling.

"This would be the best time to do it; nightfall would make it difficult for us to be seen, and the mistress will be at her full power," replied Sakuya.

"I'm not the type for waiting, after all. The sooner, the better," spoke Remilia.

"So how do we go about this?" asked Meiling.

"I'll search the human village; as I'm a human myself, I won't attract as much hostility," spoke Sakuya.

"I'll see the Kappa, you can search the lake for a boat," replied Remilia.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" asked Kanna.

"There's not much else the two of you can do, unless you've heard any rumors about these men?" asked Sakuya.

"I haven't," replied Kanna.

"I knew nothing of them until today," replied En.

"For your help, I'll allow you to stay this one night in my mansion. Sakuya, assign a group of maids to prepare a room for them," spoke Remilia.

Sakuya bowed before disappearing. She was back within a few moments.

"The staff will guide you to your room once it is ready," spoke Sakuya.

"Thank you," spoke En, while bowing. Kanna did the same.

"Let's waste no more time then; let's go," spoke Remilia, leading her group out of the mansion.

As the group left the mansion, the last traces of the day were already gone, showing an open sky full of stars and a half-full moon. The trio of Remilia, Sakuya, and Hong Meiling went out to their separate destinations, hoping to find some kind of clue as to where the armored men had taken Flandre.

Sakuya was quick to make her way across Misty Lake and through the Forest of Magic on her way into the Human Village. As she approached, she took note of the village guards standing watch, and carefully approached.

"Who are you? What is your business here?" asked one of the guards.

"Izayoi Sakuya; I am here to investigate the disappearance of one of those I work for," replied Sakuya.

"Disappearance of who?" asked the guard.

"Flandre Scarlet," answered Sakuya.

"Scarlet? As in one of the devils from that mansion? And you work for them?" asked the man.

"Is there a problem?" asked Sakuya.

"Um... no, no... we don't have a problem with the Scarlet family... you may enter," spoke the guard.

"Thank you," replied Sakuya, as she made her way into the village. She had two people on her list to talk to, and made here way for the closest one.

Sakuya came up to a small mansion. The house was bigger than the rest of those in the village, but was no where near the size of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Sakuya knocked gently on the door, hoping the person she sought was still awake.

"Who is it?" asked a man from the other side of the door.

"Izayoi Sakuya, chief maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you pertaining to the capture of Flandre Scarlet."

The man opened the door, revealing an older man an inch or two taller than Sakuya with graying hair and steel blue eyes. He was wearing a navy blue hakama over a blue kimono.

"You mean to tell me someone captured one of the vampire's of that mansion?" asked the man.

"It would seem so, Chichi Shusuiro-san," spoke Sakuya.

"I suppose you would come to see the myself, the leader of this village, first," replied the man, "might as well come in."

Sakuya nodded as she stepped into the mans house. Shusuiro led Sakuya a room used for meetings and motioned for her to sit at the round table in the room. Shusuiro sat opposite of Sakuya.

"I take it you believe we are responsible?" asked Shusuiro.

"No, I'm not here to blame you or the village as a whole. I'm sure you are aware of those in the village who would stand against us, despite the agreement we have with the village," replied Sakuya.

"I am familiar with them. They haven't been active in some time, though. A lot of them calmed down after the Temple of Myouren was founded. Seems the lady of the temple was able to convince many of them to drop their hate for the youkai of this land," spoke Shusuiro.

"But there are still some people like that, correct?" asked Sakuya.

"A few small groups here and there," replied Shusuiro.

"Do you have some idea of how many people are in these groups?" asked Sakuya.

"Most of them have around ten people. They're not very big. There are only one or two groups left that I'm aware of," replied Shusuiro.

"Are there enough of them to create an army of about thirty men?" asked Sakuya.

"Hmm... there might be, but that would be all of them from the village. They've never banded together before, and neither of the groups are opposed to your mistresses. The one group has a vendetta against Yukari Yakumo, while the other is opposed to the Tengu of the mountain. If there are those with reason to oppose you, they are few, certainly not enough for an army of thirty," replied Shusuiro.

"I see. Have you heard any rumors about men in strange armor?" asked Sakuya.

"Strange armor?" asked Shusuiro.

"Like something from the outside world," spoke Sakuya.

"Can't say that I have. This is the first I've heard of such a thing," replied Shusuiro.

"I see. I'm sorry to have wasted your time," spoke Sakuya, as she rose from her seat.

"No, you did what you needed to. I understand why you came here, and I'm not at all upset about it. I hope you are able to find the mistress of the mansion," spoke Shusuiro.

"Thank you," replied Sakuya, as she bowed to the village leader.

Sakuya departed the small mansion and made her way through the village to the school building there, which also served as the home of Keine Kamishirasawa, and often as a rest house for Fujiwara no Mokou. Sakuya knocked on the door of the residential side of the building, hoping Keine was around.

"Hm? Oh, Sakuya, is that you?" asked Keine, as she opened the door.

"It is. Something has happened that I need to discuss with you," replied Sakuya.

"I see, come in," spoke Keine, leading Sakuya to her dining room and offering her a seat at a small table that could comfortably accommodate up to two people.

"What has happened to bring you here?" asked Keine.

Sakuya told Keine of the incident that had taken place with Flandre being captured by the army of men with strange armor. Keine appeared to be taken aback by the tale, her facial expression showing her disbelief of the tale.

"I take it you also find this turn of events hard to believe?" asked Sakuya.

"It is quite difficult to swallow, but if you found something that Rinnosuke could identify as something beyond this land, then I have little room to doubt you. I wish I could help you out, but sadly, I have heard nothing of such a group," answered Keine.

"I had a feeling you were going to say that. Have there been any newcomers from the outside world entering the village lately?" asked Sakuya.

"The last one we had came here a little while ago, right before the incident with the lady of the Temple of Myouren. If there have been outsiders coming into Gensokyo, they haven't been settling down here. I doubt any outsider would try to settle outside of this village, and they wouldn't last long if they did," replied Keine.

"They would if they had this outside world technology," spoke Sakuya.

"You have a point, but I would know nothing of it all the same," replied Keine.

"Has Mokou mentioned anything about seeing someone in strange armor?" asked Sakuya.

"Hmm... she hasn't made mention seeing anyone. The last time she ran into someone, it was that outsider I mentioned. She found the outsider being attacked by a spider youkai and fought it off, then escorted the outsider to Eientei, right before ending up in another scuffle with Kaguya," replied Keine, her voice showing irritation at the end of her statement.

"You said this outsider now lives in the village?" asked Sakuya.

"I did; you wish to see her?" asked Keine.

"I would; she would be most familiar with the current technology of the outside world," spoke Sakuya.

"I see. I can introduce you, then," spoke Keine, as she rose from her seat.

Keine led Sakuya through the village to a smaller house, apparently only recently built. Keine knocked gently on the door, not wanting to disturb the person inside if she had already fallen asleep. The pair saw a light come on and heard footsteps approaching the door.

"Oh, Keine-san," spoke a woman, as she opened the door. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She had red hair and brown eyes and was wearing a white nightgown.

"Michiko, this is Izayoi Sakuya, Sakuya, this is Akagi Michiko," spoke Keine.

"Nice to meet you," spoke the woman.

"Likewise," replied Sakuya.

"What brings you here so late?" asked Michiko.

"We need to know something about the outside world," spoke Keine.

"What about it?" asked Michiko.

"Are there military that operate using special armor?" asked Sakuya.

"Special armor?" asked Michiko.

"The kind that can shoot lasers from the shoulders, has swords made of light, and use 'drones?'" asked Sakuya.

"Sounds like something out of science fiction. I don't know of anything like that existing for real, though, unless there's something the government had been working on in secret," replied Michiko.

"I see... so you don't believe something like that exists in the outside world?" asked Sakuya.

"Not at all," replied Michiko.

"Sorry to have bothered you this late," spoke Sakuya.

"Why did you want to know such a thing, if I may ask," asked Michiko.

"One of those I serve has been taken by such people; I'm looking for information, anything that will help me find her," replied Sakuya.

"Oh... I'm sorry I can't do more to help you. I hope you find the person you are looking for," spoke Michiko.

"Thank you," replied Sakuya, while taking a small bow.

The pair of Sakuya and Keine walked to the edge of the village, Sakuya preparing to rejoin Meiling and Remilia, hoping they were able to find out more than she was.

"I'm sorry we couldn't help you out further. I hope nothing bad will happen to Flandre," spoke Keine.

"I can only hope Mistress Remilia and Meiling were able to find out something. There has to be some kind of clue; there's nothing in this land that can disappear without a trace," replied Sakuya.

"If I hear anything, I'll let you know. Mokou might come back and tell me she saw the people you speak of. I'll ask her to aid you if that happens," spoke Keine.

"We would appreciate any help you could offer. Thank you, Keine," replied Sakuya.

"Take care of yourself, Sakuya," spoke Keine.

Sakuya made her way out of the Human Village, seeing that there was nothing left to gain from remaining there. Sakuya made her way for Misty Lake, hoping Remilia and Meiling found something.

Remilia had been going across Misty Lake at her fastest speed. She may not have had the speed of a certain Tengu, but she was hardly the slowest creature in Gensokyo. Remilia didn't care about anything she ran through, as long as she got to her destination as fast as she could. The few fairies in her path were quick to move. Those less fortunate found themselves knocked sky high as the angered mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion came running through on her way to Youkai Mountain.

Remilia didn't take long to arrive near the base of the mountain. Remilia slowed down a bit until she heard the sound of metal grinding against metal.

"_What was that?"_ thought Remilia.

With little warning, Remilia found herself dodging several bursts of danmaku. Remilia fired off her own bursts in the direction the bullets came from. She heard the sound of her bullets hitting metal, followed by a small flash of light. At that point, bullets stopped coming at her.

"_Are they trying to attack me? Of course, they were expecting me. I'll show them a thing or two!"_ thought Remilia, as she dashed further into Kappa territory.

The sound of metal made its way into Remilia's ears again, followed up with more danmaku bursts. Even with her good night vision, Remilia couldn't make out what was firing at her. Remilia merely sent danmaku in the direction the bullets were coming from, assuming she hit her target if the shots ceased. Remilia continued onward until a large wall rose up in the middle of her path. The wall was large enough to make going around it or above it impractical.

"What is this?" asked Remilia.

More metal sounds were the response Remilia received, before being nearly overwhelmed with danmaku in all shapes, sizes and colors.

"I've had enough of this!" shouted Remilia, as she pulled forth a spell card.

"Divine Spear "Spear the Gungnir!" shouted Remilia, as she formed a series of danmaku in her had and threw it at high speed towards her target. A small explosion signaled a hit. Remilia followed up with spear after spear, while dodging through the bullets shot out at her in random patterns. After each hit on the wall, the number of bullets decreased. After Remilia hit it with a fifth spear, that wall fell back into the water.

"Good riddance! Now come out, whoever you are!" shouted Remilia.

"Goodness! I'm sorry! I didn't expect there would be anyone out here at this time!" came a feminine voice.

"Show yourself!" shouted Remilia.

"Eep!" shouted the voice. Remilia turned to see a kappa with blue hair and eyes wearing a green hat, dark green backpack with a key where straps met on her chest, and a blue dress with pockets along the hem of the skirt.

"Where is she!" shouted Remilia.

"Where is who?" asked the kappa.

"My sister! Where is she!" shouted Remilia, forming another spear.

"I don't know, I haven't seen anyone here who could be your sister!" shouted the kappa.

"Don't lie to me!" shouted Remilia, as she threw a spear at the kappa. The kappa got out of the way in time to avoid taking a hit.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to attack you! I was just..."

"Enough!" shouted Remilia, interrupting the kappa. If you won't tell me where she is, I'll beat it out of you!"

"Wait, let me explain!" shouted the kappa.

Remilia answered with a barrage of danmaku, forcing the kappa to duck and weave to avoid being hit.

"I guess explanations will have to wait... Water Sign 'Hydro Camouflage!'" shouted the kappa.

The still waters of the lake turned to waves laden with danmaku, hurled in the direction of Remilia, who ducked and dodged through the waves, barely catching the streams of bullets joining the waves. Remilia continued her barrage while moving back and forth.

The kappa continued to move out of the path of Remilia's shots, not wanting to get hit herself, and increased the density of her strikes, making sure her opponent would not be able to see her. Remilia did indeed lose sight of her target, and started firing blindly out in the direction the bullets were coming from, making things easier for the kappa, who could avoid Remilia's attacks with ease, allowing her to focus more on taking out Remilia. After a couple minutes of danmaku waves, the kappa's spell ended, with no sign of Remilia amongst the waters.

"Sorry for this, but you left me without much choice," spoke the kappa, as she prepared to return to what she was doing beforehand.

"Hell Sign 'Mountain of a Thousand Needles!'" shouted Remilia, as she emerged from the waters of the lake, clearly agitated she was forced under water. An array of needles and knives came forth from Remilia, forcing the kappa to quickly find an opening to move herself into. The kappa made it through the first burst without issue, but found herself in trouble with the second burst, with a knife tearing through the back of her dress, drawing a little blood. The kappa winced slightly, but continued to move quickly. After a few more waves, Remilia's spell ended. A stray needle managed to lodge itself in the kappa's left shoulder at the last second.

"Please stop this!" shouted the kappa.

"Not until you tell me where my sister is!" shouted Remilia.

"I don't know anything about anyone's sister!" shouted the kappa.

Remilia answered with another barrage of scarlet bullets, forcing the kappa into a defensive stance once again.

"Flood 'Diluvial Mere!'" shouted the kappa.

The waters of the lake came to life again, packed with more bullets, while larger bullets approached from the sides, attempting to trap Remilia, who was ducking and weaving while continue to shoot off her own scarlet danmaku in the direction of the kappa. Both continued moving back, and forth, blue danmaku crossing with scarlet, creating violet flashes in the night sky. Remilia was hit in the back by one of the danmaku, furthering her anger, and resulting in her using faster bursts of bullets. She managed to hit the kappa with a small barrage, breaking her spell in the process.

"Scarlet Sign 'Scarlet Meister!'" shouted Remilia, before firing off a rapid fire barrage of human-sized scarlet danmaku, leaving behind smaller scarlet danmaku. The kappa was at her limits in dealing with the fast paced barrage, and was hit by bullet after bullet, finally falling down to the shores before the mountain. Remilia ended her spell and approached the kappa, ready to get the information she wanted.

"Now then, let's start from the beginning. Who are you, and why was I attacked as I approached this place?" asked Remilia.

"I'm Kawashiro Nitori... I was testing out a weapons system I designed to help ward off humans from carelessly approaching the mountain. I didn't think there would be anyone in the area at this time, and thought it would be safe to conduct my tests. When I noticed it was already attacking someone, I came out to see what was going on. When I saw you being attacked as you were, I turned off the system and went to see if you were okay," replied the kappa.

"Oh? So you know nothing of a strange group of men, wearing some kind of strange armor that only you, the Kappa, with your technology, could have made?" asked Remilia.

"We have no such technology. We have no need for it. And we certainly haven't been working with anyone for such a purpose," spoke Nitori.

"So you have no idea what this is?" asked Remilia, as she produced the drone Meiling found. Nitori took a close look at it, clearly not recognizing it.

"I've never seen anything like this before. Amazing... even though it's damaged, I can see that it had a lot of power for something so small. We could never make something this compact. I'm sure you must have noticed how large those turrets were. If we were to try to make something like this, it would turn out just as large," explained Nitori.

Remilia thought on her response for a moment, nothing that one of the flashes she saw while approaching cast enough light for her to see one of the turrets. They were the size of a person, but could barely support enough firepower to match a fairy.

"If you could make something like these, you would have..." muttered Remilia, "And from the look of surprise on your face, you really don't have any idea of what is going on."

"So, did some people wearing this armor, using these devices do something to you?" asked Nitori.

"They took my sister. I have no idea why, and when I find them, they're going to tell me before I get my sister back and rip out their throats!" shouted Remilia in a way that made Nitori back up from the vampire.

"I... see... we haven't noticed such people out here. I've been out here every day for the past few weeks, if a group of strange people came through the area, I would have seen them," spoke Nitori.

"Fine, so you're not responsible, and don't know who is. I'm just wasting my time here. Hopefully Sakuya or that Meiling have found out something useful," spoke Remilia, before taking off towards the lake once again.

"Sorry!" shouted Nitori, as she watched Remilia disappear from sight.

"Uh... why me?" muttered Nitori, as she dug through her pockets for the first aid kit she kept on hand in case of such an occurrence.

After watching Sakuya and Remilia depart, Meiling began looking over the body of Misty Lake, hoping to see some kind of boat the armored men could have been using to get to the island where the Scarlet Devil Mansion lay.

"This could take a while. I wish I could use of the one spell card the younger mistress likes to use. If I could be in four places at once, that would make this process much easier," spoke Meiling, as she continued skimming the surface of the lake.

Over the course of the first hour, Meiling's search turned up nothing in the area a boat would be, had one been used.

"_Uh... why do I feel like I'm wasting my time?" _thought Meiling.

At that point Meiling noticed the presence of someone, and dropped down close to the surface of the water, hoping to avoid detection. As the person approached, Meiling noticed it was the fairy who often resided over the surface of the lake, Cirno.

Meiling was about to curse her luck when she noticed that Cirno appeared to have beaten badly by someone. Her skirt was torn in several places, one of her wings was cracked, and she had a couple of scratches and smudges of blood on her face. Cirno also appeared to be in a panic. Meiling was hoping the young fairy would fail to notice her; however, Cirno had already spotted her. Before Meiling could say or do anything, the ice fairy flew straight to her.

"What in the world!" shouted Meiling.

"Ah! You've gotta help me!" shouted Cirno.

"Help you with what? I'm kind of busy here," spoke Meiling.

"There are these strange people in the lake!" shouted Cirno.

"I don't have time for... what?" asked Meiling, noticing Cirno's mention of strange people.

"I said there are some strange people in the lake!" shouted Cirno.

"Okay, first of all, stop shouting, I'm right here. Second, what kind of strange people? Were they the ones that did this to you? Did they have someone with them?" asked Meiling.

"Huh? What?" asked Cirno.

Meiling mentally planted her palm on her face, realizing she can't ask Cirno more than one question at a time.

"Just tell me what happened," spoke Meiling.

"Ah, okay," replied Cirno.

It was just after nightfall. Cirno decided she would poke around the lake a little longer tonight, hoping to find someone she could pull a good prank on. Her friend Dai had already opted to retire for the night. Cirno was flying around aimlessly when she saw a small group of men in strange, dark, green tinted armor, flying along the surface of the lake. Cirno thought they would make the perfect victims, and flew over in their direction, hoping to use her ability to produce a confusing fog.

"Doesn't look like there is any sign of that other vampire or her staff searching the area," spoke one of the men.

"I saw the maid head out earlier with one of those fairies, but it didn't seem like she was looking for us yet," spoke another one of the men.

At that point, a heavy fog appeared, obscuring their vision.

"What's with this?" asked one of the men.

"Probably one of those fairies; I hear they like to misguide people like this. Switch your headsets to infrared view," spoke another one of the men.

The group did as instructed, regaining their ability to see where they were heading. One of them noticed something odd while looking out near them.

"You see that?" asked one of the men.

"What?" asked another.

"There's a spot right about there where the temperature drops, like a little pocket of ice cold air," spoke the man.

"He's right; that's probably our fairy. Must be one that manipulates ice," spoke another armor man.

"Let's see if I can scan it... oh, yeah. Daiyousei class ice manipulator. A powerful one. One worthy of getting a sample from," replied the man.

"Alright then, let's get it," spoke another man.

"_Ha ha, they must be so confused right about now!"_ thought Cirno, as she was looking at the group of armored men.

"_Look at that, pointing randomly... huh, that one is pointing at me. Well, they're probably just all confused and everything,"_ thought Cirno, as she saw the men start to head in her direction.

"_Okay, so they're heading this way, eh? Well, I guess it's just luck. There's no way one of them to could see me," _thought Cirno.

The men had armed their shoulder cannons and began firing at Cirno. She took a few hits, not expecting to be shot at all.

"Ow!" shouted Cirno.

"There she is. I'll get the sample. After that, feel free to blast her into oblivion," spoke one of the armored men, as he pulled out a sword with a hollow handle.

"Hey, that wasn't nice! I oughta... ow!" shouted Cirno, as the man jetted towards her with the jets in his boots, slicing into Cirno's left shoulder.

"Alright boys, first one to blow a piece of her body off wins!" shouted the man with the sword, as he placed the device back into his armor.

If Cirno could see the faces of the armored men, she'd know they were smiling at the idea of blowing apart a fairy, as they started firing burst after burst in the direction of Cirno.

"Ack! Okay, try this! Freeze Sign 'Perfect Freeze!'" shouted Cirno.

Cirno sent out a furious barrage of half-human size rainbow bullets. The barrage wasn't so dense as to be difficult for the group to avoid, as they weaved through the bullets. Cirno then froze the bullets in place, surprising the group of men. Cirno followed up with a small barrage of ice bullets, which the men could still dodge, even around the frozen bullets.

Cirno smiled as she released her hold on the frozen bullets, causing them to move out in random directions. One of the more careless men in the group was too close to one of the frozen bullets, and was hit when it began to move again, causing the jet on one of his feet to explode. The man was thrown off balance and ended up crashing into the lake.

"Ha! That's why I'm the strongest!" shouted Cirno, as she started another rainbow barrage.

"Don't take her lightly! She may be a fairy, but she's by far one of the most powerful we've seen," spoke one of the armored men, as he weaved through Cirno's bullets. He noted the Cirno paused right after she shot out the burst of ice bullets, and took his shot, knocking Cirno back, and breaking her spell.

"Ow ow," spoke Cirno, as she rolled back, regaining her balance.

"Alright, so that one didn't work? Try this one then! Freeze Sign 'Minus K!'" shouted Cirno.

Cirno sent out a barrage of ice bullets, cold enough to freeze the surface of the lake on contact. The human sized ice bullets burst as the warm air hit them, resulting in the barrage intensifying. The barrage was still easy enough for the group of three armored men to dodge through. Cirno wasn't moving around as quickly, believing the group would be unable to keep up with her while she was attacking as she was. The group fired on Cirno, hitting the fairy hard enough to break her spell. Cirno had a couple of tears on her dress at this point, but she wasn't about to give up.

"Alright, if that doesn't work then... ah!" shouted Cirno, as an explosion occurred where she was. One of the men had gotten behind Cirno while she was reorienting herself after having her spell broken and shot Cirno at point blank. The explosion sent small crystals of ice raining down from Cirno's body, while Cirno herself was forced through a part of the lake she had frozen, breaking apart the previously frozen surface of the lake.

"How bothersome," spoke the man.

"That was a cheap shot, you know," spoke one of the men.

"You're just upset that I won. Those ice crystals were from her wings; I bet she won't be coming up anytime soon," replied the first man.

"Gah, whatever. Let's head back to the base now. We're already late for reporting from our patrol," spoke the second man.

"They won't complain when I give them this sample; it was worth the trouble," spoke the man.

"Well, number two-five-two wouldn't agree with you, after having been sent crashing like that," spoke the second man.

"We have no place for the weak in our unit; let's go," replied the first man, as he led the group away, the fog clearing after Cirno's defeat.

Cirno herself was shaken, but still alive. She was able to swim to the surface of the lake, popping her head up just as the group of armored men were leaving. She wanted to take a chance to get even with them and silently followed, hoping for another chance to attack them. She swam along behind them, making sure not to be seen. She was about to strike when she saw one of the men point his arm down at the surface of the lake. Cirno found this strange and watched for a moment, thinking something was about to come up. To her amazement, something large and metallic came out of the surface of the lake. It was easily three times the size of a person. It appeared to be some kind of metal box that rose five feet off the surface of the water. The top opened up, and the men flew inside. After the last one entered, the top closed before descending back into the lake. Cirno believe the thing to be some kind of monster, so she flew out of the water as fast as she could, panicking at the thought. She found it difficult to fly with one of her wings shattered, but she didn't care, as long as she could get as far from the thing as possible.

"And that's how I ended up here," spoke Cirno.

"Did you see them take anyone in there?" asked Meiling.

"No, it was just three of them. I don't know what happened to the guy I shot down. I just know there's a scary thing in the lake with those people inside of it!" shouted Cirno.

Meiling shivered a little, cold from the water Cirno got on her when the fairy crashed into her. Cirno being an ice fairy didn't help.

"I think I might be able to help you out," spoke Meiling, amazed that Cirno, of all people, had just the information they needed. Meiling took Cirno back to the shores of the lake near the Scarlet Devil Mansion, awaiting the return of the others.

Within an hour, Sakuya and Remilia had returned. Remilia looked like she had gotten into some kind of fight, but was fine, otherwise. The pair was surprised to see Cirno there.

"The Kappa are clear, though they need to work on how they greet people, did either of you find anything? And why is _that_ here?" asked Remilia, aiming the last question to Meiling.

"I didn't learn anything while visiting the Human Village. Neither the village leader or Keine could offer any helpful information, though Keine did say she would have Mokou tell us of anything suspicious Mokou finds in her travels," replied Sakuya.

"I found out where they are," spoke Meiling.

"You did?" asked Remilia.

"Well, she did," replied Meiling, while pointing to Cirno. Meiling had explained things to Cirno, albeit very carefully, while waiting. Cirno smiled.

"Yep! I found them! Found them by myself, I did!" shouted Cirno with pride.

Cirno found herself with her throat in the hands of Remilia.

"Where are they!" shouted Remilia.

"Mistress, please set her down. Scaring her won't accomplish anything," spoke Sakuya.

Remilia released her grip on the ice fairy, allowing Cirno to catch her breath.

"Where are they?" asked Remilia in a stern voice.

"In the lake," replied Cirno.

"In the lake?" asked Remilia.

"She mentioned a 'metal monster' that they went into, which then went into the lake," explained Meiling.

"I wasn't expecting something like this," spoke Remilia.

"Neither was I. It would explain why no one has seen them, except for us. No one would think to look for people _in_ the lake," spoke Sakuya.

"So what do we do now?" asked Meiling.

"We prepare to attack them! Let's head back to the mansion and gather some supplies," spoke Remilia.

"Of course. Cirno, come with us, we'll need your help," spoke Sakuya.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," replied Cirno.

Remilia and Sakuya led the way back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. When they arrived, they saw the maid staff in a frenzy. Some were trying to fix some of the broken items on the floor, while others were rushing down the corridors.

"What's going on?" asked Cirno, "This place always like this?"

"There's only one reason why the staff is like this," spoke Remilia irritation clear in her voice.

"Get back here! Sun Sign 'Royal Flare!'" came the voice of Patchouli.

"Of course, we leave, and _she_ would just have to show up," spoke Sakuya.

Sounds of explosions could be heard from down the hall, followed by the appearance of a smiling witch flying by on a broom. Marisa was passing by when she noticed no sign of Meiling. When she noted Sakuya was also gone, she couldn't help but take advantage of the opportunity to go rifling through Patchouli's library. She stopped when she ran into the group of Sakuya, Meiling, Remilia, and Cirno.

"Huh, a spoiled brat, Pad-chan, sleeping beauty, and an idiot, all in the same place," spoke Marisa.

"Spoiled brat?" asked Remilia.

"I only wore that bra once," spoke Sakuya.

"I don't fall asleep every time!" shouted Meiling.

"I'm not an idiot!" shouted Cirno.

"_Huh, didn't expect her to realize she was the idiot," _thought Marisa.

"Well, it's nice seeing all of you together like this, but I really must be going. Don't want to be going through the Forest of Magic too late, ze. See ya," spoke Marisa, as she made a bee line for the door. Sakuya jumped up and grabbed Marisa's broom, causing it to stop in midair and send Marisa crashing into a nearby wall, along with the bag of books she had. The group of four, followed by Patchouli, walked over to where she landed.

"So, would you like to see just how much of a spoiled brat I can be?" asked Remilia.

"The mistress isn't in the best of moods tonight; I believe you just became a source of stress relief," spoke Sakuya.

"Hey now, take it easy, I was going to return these eventually, you know.

"Divine Spear 'Spear the Gungnir!'" shouted Remilia.

"Ilusion Ghost 'Jack the Ludo Bile!'" shouted Sakuya.

"Colorful Sign 'Colorful Rain!'" shouted Meiling.

"Snow Sign 'Diamond Blizzard!'" shouted Cirno.

"Fire Sign 'Agni Radiance!'" shouted Patchouli.

Marisa could only make an expression of shock and fear as five spells hit her at once. The last thing the witch remembered seeing before being knocked out was an eery grin cast upon all of their faces.

Marisa woke up after Cirno dumped a bucket of ice water over her head, she noticed she was bound and tied up.

"Ow..." muttered Marisa.

"Oh look, the little thief is awake," spoke Remilia.

"If I said I'd never do it again?" asked Marisa.

"We'd give you a repeat performance," replied Remilia.

"That's harsh..." spoke Marisa.

"Well, since you're here, allow me to explain to you why you chose a particularly bad day to pull off one of your heists," spoke Sakuya.

Sakuya proceeded to explain the situation to Marisa. Marisa took all of it in fairly well, not even looking as surprised as everyone else when they first heard about it.

"So that's why Flandre didn't ambush me like she normally does. I figured she was just behaving really well today," spoke Marisa.

"So, are you doing to help us, or am I going to throw you in Flandre's room, to be the first thing she see's when we get back?" asked Remilia.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" asked Marisa.

"You don't," spoke Patchouli.

"Alright, alright, I'll help, now untie me," spoke Marisa.

Remilia snapped her fingers, bringing forth a pair of fairy maids to undo the ropes around Marisa's arms and legs.

"So, what's next?" asked Marisa.

"Well, we already gathered up all the supplies we need. We're ready to go," spoke Sakuya.

"Then let's do this," spoke Marisa.

"Good. Sakuya, you and Marisa are with me. Cirno, you're leading the way. Meiling and Patchouli, I need you to stay here and protect the mansion, in case those men try to come here. I'm sure our guests will be willing to help, should it come to that.

Meiling and Sakuya nodded. Cirno gave a thumbs up, while Patchouli nodded. Marisa put on her game face.

"I'd have done this even if you didn't threaten me. For better or worse, Flandre is one of my friends, and no one hurts my friends and gets away with it, ze!" shouted Marisa.

"Good, make sure to unload those feelings on our friends; I'm sure they'll be delighted to see all of us," spoke Remilia.

"Let's go!" shouted Marisa, as she made her way for the door. The rest of the group left after her.

The group of Remilia, Sakuya, Marisa, and Cirno made their way out over Misty Lake. Cirno led the way to where she saw the "metal monster," which was roughly half way between the island mansion and the shores of the lake near the Forest of Magic.

"It was right about here," spoke Cirno.

"I don't see anything," spoke Marisa.

"Neither do I," replied Remilia.

"We should go down low, and wait it out. If this is the entrance to where they live, then we'll see someone if we wait here long enough," spoke Sakuya.

"I hate waiting," spoke Remilia.

"Sometimes patience is a virtue," replied Sakuya.

"One I lack. Sakuya, can you speed up time around us?" asked Remilia.

"I can. Gather up close," spoke Sakuya.

The group gathered near Sakuya as she put her ability to use, making time go forward faster. While Sakuya was concentrating, Remilia, Cirno, and Marisa kept an eye open for the appearance of the metal chamber. After a few minutes of Sakuya advancing time, lights appeared beneath the surface of the water.

"Stop Sakuya," spoke Remilia.

Sakuya did so, bringing time back to it's normal flow. The metal chamber rose out of the water, lights around the outside of it. The chamber opened up, letting out a group of five armored men.

"How are we getting past them?" asked Marisa.

"I have an idea," spoke Remilia, while looking at Cirno.

"Eh?" asked Cirno.

"Distract them," spoke Remilia.

"No way, I'm not messing with those people again!" shouted Cirno.

Remilia grabbed Cirno, and threw her into the sky, making her bounce off the back of one of the armored men.

"What was that?" asked one of the men.

"_I'm going to find a way to get her back for this,"_ thought Cirno.

"Hey, look at me! Nyaa nyaa!" shouted Cirno, before firing out a couple of bursts of icicle danmaku.

"First one to blast her wins!" shouted one of the men.

"Come get me!" shouted Cirno, as she led the group away.

"Now!" shouted Sakuya, as she stopped time, catching the door to the chamber closing. It was still open enough for a person to fit in. Remilia and Marisa tore in, followed closely by Sakuya, who released her hold on time as the trio made it inside.

The trio looked down, descending slowly into underwater building. The corridor was well lit, with a surface of polished steel.

"What kind of place is this?" asked Marisa, "I've never seen anything like it before."

"There are probably a lot of things here that we've never seen before. We should be careful; these are the people who were able to take the younger mistress," spoke Sakuya.

"They must be something to pull that off. I _know_ how much trouble she can really be," spoke Marisa.

"Oh, do you? You think you know her so well, do you?" asked Remilia.

"I didn't lock her away in the cellar," replied Marisa.

"That was for her protection and ours," spoke Remilia.

"Mostly yours," spoke Marisa.

"Why you!" shouted Remilia.

"This is not the time for this, you two. We need to find the younger mistress and leave before we're caught. There's no knowing when those men from before will come back," spoke Sakuya.

"And we have no idea how many are here waiting for us, but that's okay. We've got the element of surprise... unless someone fires off a spark at the wrong time..." spoke Remilia, muttering the last part under her breath.

"I'll show you a spark..." muttered Marisa.

The trio descended for several minutes through the corridor. It appeared to be fairly deep down, below the bed of the lake itself.

"How dd they get this here without anyone knowing about it?" asked Marisa.

"That's a good question. To have something like this by my door step is rather troubling," spoke Remilia.

"They may have employed someone with an ability that would be beneficial in making something like this," spoke Sakuya.

"Maybe, but it's still troublesome," replied Remilia.

At the bottom of the corridor, there were more polished steel corridors branching off in front of them, with no sign of any of the armored men.

"Now what?" asked Marisa.

"We could search more places at once if we split up, but we would be vulnerable if we did," spoke Sakuya.

"So, risk going it alone, or spend more time searching in this place," spoke Remilia.

"We should travel together; it wouldn't do us well to have another one of us captured," spoke Sakuya.

"They won't capture me!" shouted Marisa.

"Sakuya has never steered me in the wrong direction; we stick together," spoke Remilia.

"Bah, I'm not scared of them, ze!" shouted Marisa.

"You should try a little fear from time to time, it keeps people from making irrational decisions. Take that little fairy above, for example," spoke Remilia.

"Huh? Her? She's just an idiot, and you probably shouldn't have done that to her. We could have used her help," spoke Marisa.

"Let's get moving," spoke Sakuya, motioning towards the corridor directly in front of the group.

Further into the building, there was a large room with polished steel walls and flooring. There was a computer to the right of a chamber that strongly resembled a bird cage. Within the chamber was Flandre, still unconscious from when she was taken. There was a scientist in a lab coat, looking over the vampire and the information on his screen.

"My my, you're quite the powerhouse, aren't you? That ability to destroy things is a rather nasty one. You nearly took out a small army with it," spoke the man, while continuing to look the screen over. The information scrolling up the screen stopped after a few minutes, the words "initial analysis complete" flashed below. At that moment, an armored man entered the room.

"As punctual as usual. She's done here. Take her to the detention level until we're ready to begin the DNA mapping scan. I'm going to take a look at the other two samples we received today. The sample from that ice fairy looks rather promising," spoke the scientist.

"I'll take care of her," spoke the armored man, as he pressed a button to open the chamber holding Flandre.

"Be careful, now, she can still be dangerous, even with the precautions we have in place," spoke the scientist.

"None of those we've gathered have been able to put up a fight with us after capture, I doubt this one will be any different," spoke the man.

"A little caution never killed anyone, but do as you will," replied the scientist.

The armored man picked up Flandre, and carried her out of the room, while the scientist opened up a chamber in one of the walls, holding the hollowed ends of the swords used to gather blood from En and Cirno.

The man carrying Flandre looked down at the vampire he was holding, silently laughing to himself.

"To think you could cause us so much trouble," spoke the man, not noticing that Flandre was beginning to wake.

Near the entrance of the building, Sakuya, Remilia, and Marisa were carefully walking down one of the brightly lit corridors, looking for any clue as to where Flandre might be.

"There's so many rooms here... how will we know which one?" asked Marisa.

"I'll know," spoke Remilia.

"You'll know?" asked Marisa.

"If you had a sibling, you'd understand the kind of bond they share. The mistress will find her sister, you need not worry about that," replied Sakuya.

After the trio made it halfway down the corridor, they heard a loud, blaring alarm going off, along with all the lights in the corridor turning red.

"What is that noise!" shouted Remilia, as she covered her ears.

"Code red, code red, all available soldiers to the detention level, repeat, all available soldiers to the detention level," came a voice from the ceiling.

"I don't know where this detention level is, but I know Flandre is there!" shouted Remilia.

"Let's go there, then!" shouted Marisa.

"I'll keep an eye behind us, let's go," spoke Sakuya.

The three rushed down the corridor, looking to make their way to where Flandre was.

In the detention level, Flandre had escaped the grasp of the soldier who had been carrying her, and held her palm up in front of the man.

"Kyuu!" shouted Flandre.

The armored man activated his shoulder cannons and began firing at a surprised Flandre, who had no choice but to dodge and counter with her own barrages.

"_Why didn't he explode?"_ thought Flandre, as she was attacking, _"And why do I feel so tired?"_

The corridors weren't readily made for fighting, making it hard for either to move around easily. The small corridor gave Flandre and idea as she brought forth one of her spell cards.

"Forbidden Barrage 'Catadioptric!'" shouted Flandre. As she attempted to use the spell, she nearly fainted, the spell failing.

"_Why!"_ thought Flandre, as the armored man grabbed Flandre, and slung her over his shoulder.

"Bothersome pest," spoke the man, making sure to maintain a tight grip on the vampire. The man was about to signal an all clear when Flandre started banging on the back of his armor. The man was about to ignore it, until he noted she was strong enough to cause damage to the equipment in his armor.

"_This isn't possible! She shouldn't have this much strength left! She shouldn't have even woken up!" _thought the man.

Flandre hit the back of the man's armor hard enough to cause sparks to shoot out the back, followed by the appearance of a rippling wave in the air.

"_She damaged the portal generator!"_ thought the man, as the wave swallowed up Flandre and the armored man.

The trio of Sakuya, Remilia, and Marisa continued running through the corridors, hoping to catch one of the armored men heading to the area Flandre was. There was still no sign of anyone.

"Is there anyone here at all? We should have run into someone by now, don't you think?" asked Marisa.

"Maybe not. They might all be outside somewhere, save for a few. I would rather it be that way," spoke Sakuya.

"It would be nice if that were the case, but we still need to find Flandre quickly," spoke Remilia.

"Maybe she's freed herself," spoke Marisa.

"That would mean they would be sending in people to capture her, which means we have little time to waste," spoke Sakuya.

"Look at that room over there," spoke Remilia, as she saw an armored man head inside. The man was too busy rushing to notice the three in the corridor with him.

"Finally, let's chase him down!" shouted Marisa.

The three rushed towards the room they saw the man disappear into. They noticed the door didn't seem to have any kind of handle. Marisa noticed a small panel with an arrow on it pointing down.

"You think this opens it?" asked Marisa.

"Might as well try," spoke Remilia, as she pressed the button. The button lit up, but the door still didn't open.

"There must be someway to open this thing!" shouted Remilia.

"Look at that," spoke Sakuya, pointing to a sign about the door. It had an arrow pointing down, with lvl 3 next to it. The number went up to 6, paused for a moment, then quickly started lowering down to 1, right before the door slid open from the middle.

"Strange," spoke Sakuya, as the group of three entered the room. Like the corridor, it was finished with polished steel, and was brightly lit. The room was large enough to fit twenty people within. There was another panel by the door. This panel had a series of buttons with numbers on them, going up to 7.

"Which one is it?" asked Remilia.

"Let's just try them all," spoke Marisa, as she was about to start pushing them all when Sakuya pulled her hand away.

"What was that for?" asked Marisa.

"I think we want this one," spoke Sakuya, while pushing the button with 6 on it.

"What makes you think it's that one?" asked Marisa.

"That was the highest number the sign about this door displayed. I believe this will take us to where that armored man went," spoke Sakuya.

"I hope you are right," spoke Marisa.

"As I said before, Sakuya has never steered me in the wrong direction," spoke Remilia.

The three could feel the room start to move. There was another sign above the door, the same as before, with a down arrow and a number. The number increased to 3 before the room stopped moving and the door opened, revealing a pair of armored men trying to enter. Remilia blasted them both at point blank, knocking them back in to the corridor and causing them to explode, before dashing out into the corridor, only to have Sakuya stop her.

"I don't believe this is where we want to be," spoke Sakuya.

"If you say so," spoke Remilia.

The door closed and the room continued to move until the sign showed a 6 and the door opened again. This time, there was no one trying to get in.

"Be careful," spoke Sakuya, as she led the group of three into the corridor. After walking a few steps, the alarm stopped blaring and the lights returned to white.

"What does this mean?" asked Marisa.

"All clear, repeat, all clear," came the voice from the corridor.

"You think they got her again?" asked Marisa.

"If that's the case, then we should hurry," spoke Remilia.

"Agreed," spoke Sakuya, as the trio ran down the corridor. Along the way, the three of them noticed a section of the corridor that was different from the rest. There were spots of black on the floor, walls, and ceiling, and some of the lights were out.

"Looks like Mistress Flandre was here," spoke Sakuya.

"I can tell from the pattern on the wall that it was her. Looks like she was only fighting with one person... strange," spoke Remilia.

"What's so strange about it? She was captured, right? She would fight her captors," spoke Marisa.

"That's not what's strange," spoke Sakuya.

"Flandre would have used her ability to blow up one person; she wouldn't fight a single person like this unless she wanted to toy with him," explained Remilia.

"And she wouldn't play around in this situation?" asked Marisa.

"She knows when it's time to play and when it's time to fight seriously. She wouldn't be toying around with anyone in here," spoke Remilia.

"Maybe they have a way of negating her ability?" asked Marisa.

"We should assume that for the time being; all the more reason to be careful while walking through here," spoke Sakuya.

The group of three kept moving until Sakuya had them stop.

"You heard it, too?" asked Remilia.

"I did," spoke Sakuya.

"Sounds like a lot of them," spoke Marisa.

The three of them pressed themselves against the wall, while Sakuya pulled out one of her knives and held it out around the bend of the corridor. She looked at the reflection, seeing a group of over twenty armored men going to a room. She saw all of them enter before the door closed.

"It's safe to move. I think we've found her," spoke Sakuya.

"Then let's get her!" shouted Remilia.

"Don't be so hasty, mistress. It would be best if we saw how many we were dealing with first," replied Sakuya.

"Right," spoke Remilia.

Sakuya led the three to the door the men entered. She signaled everyone to be quiet, so she could hear the voices coming from within.

"Good, you're all here. Listen up. Commander Jin is at the shrine right now, and has no idea what is going on. We need to get that girl back here before he returns. In her current state, she should be no match for the group of you. From the last message we got from number one-six-seven, he was attacked by a youkai of some kind. All we know is that this youkai shouldn't be fought alone, but isn't too strong," spoke one man.

"How can there be a youkai there? Youkai went extinct some time ago in our world, didn't they?" asked another man.

"We don't know. It may have ended up there through the whims of that border youkai for all we know. It should be killed on sight, though. Twenty-five of you should be more than enough to take care of that vampire and a weak youkai. I should also note that it has been a day since that incident in our world; one-six-seven's portal generator was damaged when the portal formed, resulting in a small time-space displacement. Fortunately, he still ended up in the right world, just in the wrong place, a day behind. I have the portal generator set to the right area. Stay together and use the cover of night; we do not need to be found out by the locals," spoke the man.

A loud sound come from the room, followed by the sound of marching. The marching sounds faded slowly until they disappeared.

"Now's our chance!" shouted Marisa.

"For once, I agree with you," spoke Sakuya.

"Let's get Flandre!" shouted Remilia, as the three blew away the door into the room. There was one man in the room, a scientist in a lab coat. It was a large room, able to accommodate a small army. At the far end was a machine with a large ripple in space above it.

"Intruders!" shouted the scientist.

Remilia fired off a stream of human sized bullets, burning the mans clothes and knocking him out before he could sound the alarm.

"We should get going before he wakes up," spoke Sakuya.

"Where did they all go?" asked Marisa.

"They must have gone through that," spoke Remilia, pointing at the ripple in space.

"Should we go into that?" asked Marisa.

Remilia said nothing as she made her way through, not caring, if it meant she could see her sister again. Sakuya followed, with Marisa not too far behind.

The three felt a strange sensation as they entered the portal. It felt like having one's body stretched out, and yet it didn't cause any pain. The group of three emerged from a ripple in space in a wooded area at night. They looked down and saw Flandre and a man in strange clothing facing off against the group of armored men from before.

"Flandre! I won't let them hurt you!" shouted Remilia.

Sakuya already had a set of knives ready, preparing to hit the men with a quick barrage.

"You know the rest from there," spoke Sakuya.

"Yeah, where you saved me back there. I owe all of you for that," spoke Seigai.

"Don't flatter yourself, I was out to save Flandre. You got saved as a bonus," spoke Remilia.

"Well, thanks all the same," spoke Seigai.

"It's getting rather late now," spoke Marisa, looking out the window. The first signs of dawn had appeared.

"I guess we should get some sleep," spoke Seigai.

"Wait, you sleep during the day, too?" asked Marisa.

"Yeah. I work overnight, so I kind of sleep during the day as a result," replied Seigai.

"I'll remain awake, in case any of those men should happen to come here," spoke Sakuya.

"They won't risk being seen during the day. In this world, it would cause them all manner of problems if they were found out. Information travels so fast... they would be caught rather quickly. I somewhat doubt the government would approve of their actions, from what you've told me," spoke Seigai.

"Are you sure of this?" asked Sakuya.

"I'm sure," replied Seigai.

"You should sleep, Sakuya. We've all had a long day. We haven't even eaten at all, an issue we can save for later. Right now, I'm tired," spoke Remilia.

"As you wish, Mistress," replied Sakuya.

"I'll grab the blankets," spoke Seigai.

"I could stay awake all day. Besides, I want to see what all this place has to offer!" shouted Marisa.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," spoke Seigai.

"Why not?" asked Marisa.

"Flying witches aren't exactly common around here. Heaven only knows what would happen if anyone found out there were real vampire and a real witch here," explained Seigai.

"You should sleep, too, Marisa-nee. You look really tired," spoke Flandre.

"Well... okay, if you insist," replied Marisa.

Seigai pulled out a large blanket and his sleeping bag. The blanket was big enough for two. Remilia and Flandre used it, leaving Seigai with a small problem.

"Uh... oh dear... um, how are you two on sharing sleeping space with me?" asked Seigai.

"I don't care," spoke Marisa.

"I don't have a problem, but..." spoke Sakuya as she pulled out a knife.

Seigai remembered the "accident" he had while sharing his bed with Flandre before, pondering if he wanted to take the same chances with Sakuya and Marisa.

"_Death by spark and stabbing do not appeal to me at all,"_ thought Seigai.

"I'll sleep in the chair," spoke Seigai.

"Wise choice," spoke Sakuya.

"Hee hee," spoke Marisa.

"_She knew that was going to happen,"_ thought Seigai, as he laid out the blankets for the group of four women. He closed the blinds and curled himself up in his chair.

"Sleep well, mistresses," spoke Sakuya.

"You rest well, too, Sakuya," spoke Flandre.

Marisa was already asleep, snoring coming from where she lay. Seigai curled up into his chair and shut his eyes, wondering what the next day would hold.


	4. Beyond

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit in any way from this work_

**Chapter 4 – Beyond**

The day passed by quickly without incident. Roku and Seigai's other roommates never caught onto the number of girls currently occupying Seigai's room. Seigai stirred around occasionally, not at all comfortable trying to sleep in his chair. The girls were sound asleep, even with Marisa's snoring.

Late in the afternoon, Seigai's alarm sounded from his phone, prompting him to turn it off.

"Uh... I hate waking up..." muttered Seigai.

He was about to drift back to sleep when he noticed something was a little off.

"_Wait a minute, when did I get a blanket, and why does this one feel like..."_ thought Seigai, as he opened his eyes. At some point during the day, Flandre had sat on Seigai's lap, opting to sleep with him in stead of next to her sister. Unfortunately, Seigai's alarm succeeded in waking Sakuya from her sleep, who noted Flandre's change of location after tracing the noise that woke her up. Sakuya was standing over Seigai immediately.

"Mistress?" asked Sakuya, as she gently woke Flandre.

Flandre muttered something about not wanting to wake up before holding onto Seigai tighter. Seigai looked up at Sakuya with a face that matched that of a deer caught in headlights.

"_Please don't kill me... dying sucks,"_ thought Seigai.

Sakuya attempted to wake Flandre again, but was stunned by something and fell back onto the floor, falling on top of Marisa.

"Ah! I didn't do it! Don't hurt me!" shouted Marisa, who was woken immediately. Her screams caused Remilia to wake up.

"Uh, what is going on... is that... my sister... with that..." spoke Remilia, as she noticed where Flandre was. Seigai started sweating bullets now that Remilia was awake.

"What was that..." muttered Sakuya, as she picked herself up. She looked over Flandre's back, noticing something strange.

"Uh..." muttered Flandre.

"Ah, you're awake Mistress Flandre," spoke Sakuya.

"Uh huh..." muttered Flandre.

"I think you should get off of Seigai," spoke Sakuya.

"It's comfortable here," spoke Flandre.

"You should rise before Mistress Remilia attempts to kill him," explained Sakuya.

"Oh, alright," spoke Flandre, sliding off of Seigai and onto her feet.

"Flandre, do you know what this black thing on your back is?" asked Sakuya.

"Black thing?" asked Flandre.

"Hm? That isn't part of her outfit?" asked Seigai, as he looked it over.

The small black thing in question appeared to the the size of a silicon wafer, the kind used in computer boards, and appeared to look like one.

"This... I wonder..." spoke Seigai, as he tried to touch it. He immediately fell back into his chair.

"What was that?" asked Seigai.

"Perhaps this is why Mistress Flandre has been unable to use any of her abilities," spoke Sakuya.

"I think you're right. I know it felt like someone was draining my energy when I touched it. I wonder how we can remove it?" asked Seigai.

"Huh, this little thing is weakening Flandre? The technology of the outside world sure is something else, isn't it?" spoke Marisa.

"It is rather impressive for something so small. Must be held in place by a powerful magic," spoke Remilia, thinking about the advantages of leaving it alone.

"Get it off! Get it off!" shouted Flandre.

"There has to be something... hmm... I think I have an idea," spoke Seigai.

"What would that be?" asked Sakuya.

"Well, this thing isn't able to completely bind Flandre's abilities, so it must already be near it's limit. Maybe if all of us try to force energy into it, it'll overload and cease functioning. Should be easy enough to remove after that," spoke Seigai.

"It's worth trying," spoke Sakuya.

"Okay," spoke Remilia, _"Though I would rather leave it there."_

Remilia, Sakuya, Marisa, and Seigai charged some danmaku energy into their hands, and forced it into the small box on Flandre's back. The box come alive, glowing a bright magenta, while ferociously sapping the energy out of all five them. After a minute of trying to drain everyone, the box glowed bright white before popping, the sudden change forcing everyone to fall to the floor.

"Guh... did that work?" asked Seigai.

Sakuya stood up and looked at Flandre's back. She pulled off the smoking box and crushed it in her hand.

"It worked," spoke Sakuya.

"Whoa, I feel so much better now!" shouted Flandre. She looked outside, seeking something. She saw a power transformer on a power poll, and cast her palm over it.

"Kyuu!" shouted Flandre, before the transformer exploded, followed by every electrical device in the house losing power.

"Yay! I can 'kyuu' things again!" shouted Flandre, jumping for joy at the return of her powers. She ran up to hug Sakuya, then ran over to give Seigai a quick hug, causing him the blush in embarrassment, while Remilia's face started to grow red with anger.

"Do be careful about getting too close to strange men," spoke Remilia.

Seigai could feel the anger from Remilia, though he understood she was only being a little protective of her sister. A loud growl erupted from someone in the room, prompting everyone to look at Remilia, who held her stomach in embarrassment.

"I suppose we should gather something to eat," spoke Remilia, her mood quickly changing.

"I don't have enough food here for everyone, and I don't think it would be too good for my health to let both of you drain my blood for nourishment," spoke Seigai.

"I have that taken care of," spoke Sakuya, "but we will need some food."

"I guess we can go to the store to get some things," spoke Seigai.

"What about us?" asked Marisa.

"Well... as long as you don't fly around, you'll be okay, but..." spoke Seigai, while looking at Flandre and Remilia's wings.

"I see. Well, Sakuya, I suppose there's _that_, as uncomfortable as it is," spoke Remilia.

"What, you gonna make your wings disappear?" asked Marisa.

"Something like that," spoke Remilia.

"If you wish," spoke Sakuya, as she summoned forth her ability to manipulate time and space. She cast her hands behind Remilia, making her wings seem to disappear, then did the same for Flandre.

"Whoa... that was... interesting," spoke Marisa.

"I just changed the space directly behind them. Their wings are still there, but the space they occupy is too small to be visible," spoke Sakuya.

"Huh... that's a convenient trick," spoke Seigai.

"We normally only use it when we're around those who have a grudge against youkai, but since this land isn't too accepting," spoke Remilia.

"We have to do this. I can't allow myself to leave my mistresses here, even if we wouldn't be gone for a while, I don't want to take the chance," spoke Sakuya.

"Does this mean we get to go somewhere? Yay!" shouted Flandre.

"Must we go out now, while the sun is still out?" asked Remilia.

"It would be better to leave about now. If we wait until later, the store will be a lot busier," spoke Seigai.

"If you insist," spoke Remilia, as she pulled out a spell card. Instead of bringing forth a barrage of danmaku, it brought forth parasol.

"That's convenient," spoke Seigai.

"It comes in handy," spoke Remilia.

"I don't suppose any of you have money?" asked Seigai.

"We don't," spoke Sakuya.

"Oh... well... whatever, I'll worry about it later," spoke Seigai, realizing he was going to have to pay for everything himself.

"_Oh well, it's not like it's going to cost all that much for one meal,"_ thought Seigai.

As the group made their way out of Seigai's room, Roku took note of the number of girls with him. Roku slapped himself on the face to see if he was dreaming, only to realize he wasn't.

"Seigai, how did you get so many girls here? And without telling me? C'mon!" shouted Roku.

"I said I had friends, and that a lot were girls that I often talk to. Did you really think I was lying?" asked Seigai.

"Well... yeah..." spoke Roku.

"Well, I wasn't. Later," spoke Seigai, as he led the group outside, Remilia opening up her parasol as she stepped outside.

"Why do I feel like I wouldn't like him?" asked Remilia.

"He's stuck up and terribly immature," replied Seigai.

"Sounds like he would get along fine with you," spoke Marisa.

"What!" shouted Remilia.

"If you two want to argue, that's all fine and good, but do remember what I said about showing off magic," spoke Seigai.

"Right, right," spoke Marisa.

"Humph," went Remilia.

Seigai led the group out past his house to the path he took to Tsubura in the forest. The group looked around at what had been a battle scene the previous night. There were some signs of burn marks on the trees, but no sign at all of the armored men.

"That's odd," spoke Seigai.

"What's odd?" asked Remilia.

"There's nothing here, no broken parts or anything," spoke Sakuya.

"Now that you mention it, that is kind of strange," spoke Marisa.

"Do you think someone came here and took everything?" asked Remilia.

"It's possible, if they don't want people to know about them, they would make sure not to leave anything behind," spoke Seigai.

"They only took what belonged to them," spoke Sakuya, as she walked over and picked up one of her knives.

"Seems odd they would go through that kind of trouble... unless they had some kind of fail safe in place to make anything that fell off disappear. That would be a little more practical," spoke Seigai.

"Maybe," spoke Sakuya.

The group continued through the forest. As they were walking Flandre looked up, her expression changing to a frown.

"Is that one of those portals?" asked Flandre, while pointing up, something falling out.

"Eh?" asked Seigai, looking up in time to have what came from the portal hit him on the face, knocking him hard into the dirt.

"Ow... huh... snowflake panties..." muttered Seigai.

"Oh look, it's raining fairies," spoke Marisa.

"Ow..." muttered Cirno, "Did I hit something?"

Cirno looked down, and saw the rest of Seigai's body, quickly realizing she had accidentally given Seigai a small show.

"Eep!" shouted Cirno, as she quickly got herself up.

"Uh... wait... is that... Cirno?" asked Seigai.

"Who told you that!" shouted Cirno.

"They did," spoke Seigai.

"Huh? Oh, right," spoke Cirno.

"How did you get here?" asked Remilia.

"I froze one of them!" shouted Cirno, with a look of pride on her face.

"I guess that messed up their machines," spoke Sakuya.

"Wait, if you caused this by freezing one of them, shouldn't the one you froze be appearing somewhere?" asked Seigai.

Another portal appeared nearby, with what looked like an armored man ice sculpture falling out of it. The man exploded upon hitting the ground.

"I'm glad _that_ didn't fall on my head," spoke Seigai.

"Let's check it out! I want to see if anything cool is left!" shouted Marisa, as she made her way for where the man fell. The others followed.

They arrived to find a scorch pattern on the forest bed. There were some small fires about to burn out, but no parts left behind.

"I guess the stuff must be set to vaporize upon destruction, or something," spoke Seigai.

"Then why were we able to find those drones from before?" asked Sakuya.

"Good question. Maybe they weren't made the same way. Probably not, since they were meant to work independently," answered Seigai.

"I see," replied Sakuya.

"Did any one else see you freeze that man?" asked Remilia, while looking at Cirno.

"Hm? No, I don't think so. The other ones got tired of chasing me, and went back to that metal monster thing. This guy must have been mad, since you threw me at him and everything. I'm not really happy about that, you know," spoke Cirno.

"Oh? So what are you going to do about it?" taunted Remilia.

"I'll show you!" shouted Cirno.

The ice fairy was about to attack Remilia when Sakuya appeared from behind and grabbed her.

"You shouldn't get angered by the mistress's words so easily," spoke Sakuya.

"And you can't really use magic here; it would... scare the people here," spoke Seigai.

"It would? Is this the outside world?" asked Cirno.

"Actually, it's a parallel dimension of sorts, a world on a different dimensional plane sitting near yours," answered Seigai.

"Dimensional what?" asked Cirno.

Seigai slapped himself in the face, realizing he would need to dumb it down in order for Cirno to understand.

"This is a place that's like the outside world," spoke Sakuya.

"Like it in what way?" asked Cirno.

"The people are the same, so we can't use our magic in front of them," spoke Sakuya.

"Why not? People here not like magic?" asked Cirno.

"Yeah. If you use magic, it'll make dangerous people appear, who will do all kinds of bad things to you," spoke Seigai.

"Oh. I guess I won't use my magic, then," spoke Cirno.

"Now, about those wings," spoke Seigai.

"What? Wings are bad, too?" asked Cirno.

"I can fix that for you, just turn around and hold still," spoke Sakuya.

"Wait, you're not going to cut them off, are you. That hurts a lot! I've had it happen to me a lot!" shouted Cirno.

"I'm not going to cut them off, I'm just going to make it so no one can see them," replied Sakuya.

"Well, okay..." spoke Cirno, with a tone of worry.

Sakuya used the same spell she used for hiding Flandre and Remilia's wings, making it so the space they occupied was really small.

"This feels weird... I feel my wings, yet I can't grab them or see them," spoke Cirno.

"You get used to it. I don't like it at all. I went through a lot of trouble to make my wings," spoke Flandre.

"You made those?" asked Seigai.

"Yep!" shouted Flandre.

"How did you do that?" asked Seigai.

"With help from Patchouli. Flandre wanted to have wings like me. Hers disappear when she's in human form, unlike mine, which always remain behind. Flandre wanted wings with pretty crystals, so Patchy made her some with her magic," spoke Remilia.

"_Of course, they were supposed to be charms to reduce her power. Too bad they ended up having the opposite effect,"_ thought Remilia.

"Oh, I see. I figured someone made them. They didn't look like something that one would be born with," spoke Seigai.

"I'm the only person in all of Gensokyo with such pretty wings. I love them!" shouted Flandre.

"I can kind of make wings like that, but I like my ice wings the way they are," spoke Cirno, "So, what were you all doing?"

"We were going to get dinner," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, well, I should get going, so, how do I get home?" asked Cirno.

"You can't," spoke Seigai.

"Huh?" asked Cirno.

"We're all stuck here until we force those armored people to take us back," spoke Flandre.

"Stuck!" shouted Cirno, finally realizing what kind of situation she was in.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to get home," spoke Sakuya, "We'll just have to make due for now."

"Well... okay. So, where do I go?" asked Cirno.

"You can stay with us; I'm probably the only person here who wouldn't be freaked out by your abilities," spoke Seigai.

"I guess I can stay with you guys, but who is strange clothes?" asked Cirno of Seigai.

"Well, I'm a youkai of this place," spoke Seigai, "And jeans and a shirt are normal here."

"You're a youkai? What kind?" asked Cirno.

The group resumed their journey to the store, while Seigai gave Cirno a summary of his personal history. Seigai made sure to explain it in a way that would be easily understood by the fairy.

"Oh. So you're a youkai, but you're a human at the same time?" asked Cirno.

"Something like that," replied Seigai.

"Strange, but I believe it," spoke Cirno.

"Is there anything that's strange in Gensokyo?" asked Remilia.

"Well, there was the Daidarabocchi," spoke Cirno.

"That is a fun story of yours. I still look around for that youkai you said you ran into. Even Alice keeps working on that one spell," spoke Marisa.

"_Should I tell them? Nah, Cirno would never understand, anyway,"_ thought Seigai, reflecting on how Gensokyo was represented in this world.

"That robot of the Kappa was strange at first. Even when they explained how it worked, it was still a little hard to believe," spoke Flandre.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. That sure was fun!" shouted Marisa, "You know, Alice is trying to make a doll that big. Could you imagine what would happen if Alice made a doll like that come to life?"

"Nothing pleasant," spoke Sakuya.

"I wonder what would happen if I became that big?" asked Flandre.

"Armageddon," spoke Seigai.

"Arma-what?' asked Flandre.

"End of the world," replied Seigai.

"Why? I would just make a mountain or two go 'kyuu!'" shouted Flandre.

"He he... that would be a good way to get rid of that pesky Tengu," muttered Marisa.

"Hm?" asked Remilia.

"It's nothing, just something about the Tengu," spoke Marisa.

"I'm sure," replied Remilia.

The group arrived at the road near the store. The group of girls with Seigai had never really seen a car before, not noticing the car Roku had at Seigai's house.

"What are those?" asked Cirno.

"I thought the people here didn't use magic," spoke Marisa.

"It's not magic. They're machines. They run on gasoline fuel," replied Seigai.

"Sounds like Kourin's heater. I wonder if they work the same?" asked Marisa.

"Not at all. I don't know all about how they work, but I know they don't run like a heater. They do have heaters inside of them, though," replied Seigai.

"Kourin would love to get his hands on one," spoke Marisa.

"They look like fun! I want one!" shouted Flandre.

"They would make a statement," spoke Remilia.

"They're not that fun. Flying is much more convenient. I miss flying," spoke Seigai.

"You can't fly?" asked Flandre.

"Not yet. I can in my youkai form, but not like this. Even if I could, I couldn't do it around other people, so I'd lose the advantage, anyway," spoke Seigai.

"This place has a lot of strange rules," spoke Flandre.

"Yeah... the world just isn't what it used to be," spoke Seigai.

"How do we get across this? We need to fly, don't we?" asked Cirno.

"Not at all. We just have to wait a moment," answered Seigai, as he pressed the button for getting a walk signal.

"When that says we can, we go," spoke Seigai, while pointing at a red light with a standing person.

Within a couple of minutes, the light switched to a green one with a person walking in white.

"Okay, now we can go," spoke Seigai.

"They're not going to hit us?" asked Flandre.

"You have to look for turning cars, but no, they're not," spoke Seigai.

The group continued along, walking a little further to get to the store. Seigai grabbed a shopping cart and led the group inside. They group was intrigued by the sliding doors, but continued along.

"Whoa, so much food! There's way more here than at the markets in the Human Village!" shouted Cirno, as she dashed off to where the produce was.

"Wait a second!" shouted Seigai.

"Relax, even she's not stupid enough to eat something at a store before paying for it," spoke Marisa.

"Oh," spoke Seigai.

"So, what do you need? I can tell you where to find everything," spoke Seigai.

"I trust you have the pots and pans and utensils for making a meal?" asked Sakuya.

"Yeah, compliments of my relatives," replied Seigai.

"I see... hmm..." spoke Sakuya.

"Try not to think up something too expensive; I don't have that much money. I make just enough to feed myself and pay the bills," spoke Seigai.

"I'll make something simple, then. Does this place sell any meat?" asked Sakuya.

"Yeah, meat and seafood, some fresh, some canned. Same with fruits and vegetables. The canned stuff is a little cheaper, though. I usually get canned fruits and vegetables and fresh meat, since the canned meat isn't all that great," replied Seigai.

"Hmm..." muttered Sakuya, while reading through the aisle signs, thinking of an easy meal that wouldn't cost too much.

"I have something in mind, then," spoke Sakuya, "may I?"

"Hm, the cart? Sure, just remember to get the less expensive stuff. Not everything has to be name brand," spoke Seigai.

"Name brand?" asked Sakuya.

"Never mind, just try to get the least expensive ones," replied Seigai.

Sakuya quickly made her way through the store, gathering everything she needed for the meal she had planned, and returned within fifteen minutes.

"Huh, that was fast," spoke Seigai.

"It's just for one meal," spoke Sakuya.

"Sakuya never takes too long to do anything, that's why she's my chief maid," spoke Remilia, with a voice of pride.

"Thank you, mistress," replied Sakuya.

"So... what did you have in mind?" asked Seigai, while looking over the various items in the cart.

"I'm curious myself," spoke Remilia.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy what I have in mind, mistress," replied Sakuya.

"I always do," spoke Remilia.

"Sakuya makes the best meals! I love her cakes the most!" shouted Flandre.

"I look forward to it, then," spoke Seigai.

"I take it we pay over there?" asked Sakuya, while pointing at the cash registers at the front of the store.

"Yep," spoke Seigai.

"Someone should get that fairy," spoke Marisa, who's hat appeared to be bigger than it was before.

"Did you... never mind," spoke Seigai.

"Why don't you get her?" asked Remilia.

"Yeah, sure," spoke Marisa, with a slight grin on her face, as she headed over to where Cirno was in the produce section.

"Why was she smiling?" asked Seigai.

"That's the same smile she makes when she goes into Patchy's library. I'm sure you can figure it out from there," spoke Remilia.

"_I should stop her, but since our boss is as cheap as he is, I don't feel all that motivated,"_ thought Seigai.

"Marisa-nee says it's a bad habit and that she can't help it," spoke Flandre.

"Is that what she calls it?" asked Seigai.

"Just be thankful if you still have all your things in place when we get to your house. I'm not sure if you noticed, but she was the last one to leave," spoke Remilia.

Seigai's face deadpanned at the thought, while pushing the cart over to the checkout lanes. The lines had three to five people each. Marisa returned with a few of her pockets looking a little bigger than before, though not enough to be noticed if one wasn't paying careful attention.

"This place is so big!" shouted Cirno, "And all this food!"

"I was amazed like this when they first opened stores like this. I got used to it over time, though. I got used to a lot of things that I would have thought to be rather strange a few hundred years ago," spoke Seigai.

"I've seen some strange things myself, over time. It's amazing how much the world changes over the centuries, isn't it?" asked Remilia.

"That's right, you've lived for a while, too. I keep having to remind myself, since you look so young. Then again, I hardly look like I'm as old as I am, so I guess I can't argue too much," replied Seigai.

"I wonder what the world will be like in another hundred years. Gensokyo doesn't really change a lot," spoke Flandre.

"That's not really a bad thing. I could have done without the people hunting down youkai. And the transition from magic to technology. I find it to be shame that the people here abandoned the arts of old in favor of the newer technology. Even the best of technology can't reproduce some of the most basic magic," spoke Seigai.

"Really?" asked Flandre.

"Really. Well, maybe those armor people, but nothing I've seen," spoke Seigai.

The group's turn in line came, with Seigai emptying out the contents of the cart to be rung up. He winced at the price of everything, muttering about how we was paying the same for one meal that he would pay for a week's worth of groceries. He slid his credit card, signed the slip, and placed the bagged groceries back into the cart, before making for the exit. He was nervous about someone saying something to Marisa. They already received some stares from how they were dressed. Seigai was amazed Marisa had yet to have been caught. Seigai breathed a sigh of relief as the group made their way out.

"What was that thing you paid with?" asked Flandre.

"My credit card? It's a way of paying for things electronically," spoke Seigai.

"Electronically?" asked Flandre.

"Like... hm... how would I explain it... ah, like I'm giving them permission to take my money from where I have it stored," spoke Seigai.

"But couldn't they as much of it as they want?" asked Marisa, as she pulled an apple out of her hat and started to eat it, "I know I would."

"That would be stealing; there are ways to make sure that doesn't happen; the store would get in serious trouble if they tried to do something like that," spoke Seigai.

"Stealing money is pointless, anyway. I would rather just take what I was going to get with the money. That, and it's easier to return things, rather than money. I can know who owns what, but money is all the same," replied Marisa.

"May I have one of those?" asked Cirno.

"Hm? Oh, sure... hm... bread... pie... more bread... ah, here you go," spoke Marisa.

"Thanks," spoke Cirno, as she began biting into the the apple.

"How much did you take!" shouted Seigai, while thinking his question over for a moment, "On second thought, never mind. I don't think I want to know," spoke Seigai.

"What?" asked Marisa.

"How do you plan on returning those, as you say you plan on doing with everything else?" asked Remilia.

"When I die, my body will breakdown into stuff that will make the plants that made these items grow," replied Marisa, as though she had said that many times before.

"Just let it be; the guy who runs this place is so cheap, a little humility would do him some good," spoke Seigai, who was still trying to figure out how no one noticed.

The group made their way home, with Seigai and Sakuya carrying everything. Cirno was too clumsy, Marisa didn't care, and Sakuya opted to carry everything for Flandre and Remilia. Seigai kept looking to the sky, expecting something else to fall on him, or another armored man appearing.

The group arrived at Seigai's house to find no one else home. Cirno made her way into the living area, staring intently at the television.

"What's this?" asked Cirno, as she hit the on button. She jumped back as the screen lit up, showing some random commercial.

"How did you get these people into this box?" asked Cirno.

"Right, no television in Gensokyo, right?" asked Seigai.

"Is that what that is? It looks like the computers Kourin has," spoke Marisa.

"There's someone with computers in Gensokyo?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah, though, Kourin doesn't really know how to use them. He got some of the small ones to work once, but then they stopped working, and haven't since," replied Marisa.

"Interesting," spoke Seigai.

"Where is everything in here?" asked Sakuya.

"Oh, I'll show you. The pots and pans are in this cabinet. The cooking utensils I use are right here in this cabinet. The plates and bowls and silverware are here. This is the oven and cooking range... I suppose you wouldn't know how to use an electric oven, would you?" asked Seigai.

"I can't say that I do," replied Sakuya.

"It's not too hard. These knobs here control each range. The small picture shows which one each knob controls. Most things cook just fine on medium. I end up burning things when I set it to high. This one controls the oven temperature," spoke Seigai.

"Simple enough. I can figure out the rest from here," replied Sakuya.

"Okay, don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it," spoke Seigai.

"So, what shall we do while we wait for Sakuya?" asked Flandre.

"Do you have a place to bathe?" asked Remilia.

"I do, it's in my room. I suppose all of you might want a shower" spoke Seigai, "My bathroom is in my room."

"Come Flandre, we should be proper when preparing to eat," spoke Remilia.

"Okay, Remi-nee," spoke Flandre.

"Uh, Cirno, you should probably take one, too," spoke Seigai.

"Huh?" asked Cirno, who was fixated on the television.

"Come here," spoke Seigai.

"Okay," replied Cirno.

"I could use a shower myself, and a change in clothes," spoke Marisa.

"Take your time, I can make this take as long as needed," spoke Sakuya, as she was laying out the ingredients for her meal.

"Such a thoughtful maid," spoke Marisa.

"Oh, wait, don't you have to work tonight?" asked Flandre of Seigai.

"Hm? No, I don't, so don't worry about taking too long with everything," replied Seigai.

"Ah, good, I could use a nice bath," spoke Remilia.

"Uh... I kind of don't have a bath," spoke Seigai, as he led the group back to his room, and to the bathroom.

"That's all?" asked Remilia, looking over Seigai's small bathroom.

"Sorry, I know you're used to something a little more elegant, but it's all I have here," replied Seigai.

"I suppose I should be thankful you have soap and clean towels. We'll be going first," spoke Remilia.

"Okay, just keep in mind the knob there controls the temperature; left is hot, right cold. Pull it out gently to start the water," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, and wait a moment, because it's really cold at first. I found that out the hard way," spoke Flandre.

Flandre and Remilia entered the bathroom and closed the door.

"If any of you peak in here, I'll drain you of every drop of your blood, even if I get too full to eat more!" shouted Remilia through the door.

"Bah, get over yourself, you're not all that great!" shouted Marisa.

"I think she meant that more for me," spoke Seigai.

"Hm? Oh, right, man. The only guy I see on a regular basis is Kourin," replied Marisa.

"Fair enough," spoke Seigai, while casually looking over his room to see if there was anything missing.

"I didn't take anything," spoke Marisa.

"Hm?" asked Seigai.

"You have that look on your face. I don't steal from everyone, you know," spoke Marisa.

"That's a lie," spoke Cirno.

"Shut up!" shouted Marisa.

"Well, I don't see anything missing. At least you didn't take anything out of here that I would miss," spoke Seigai.

"Yeah, there's nothing in here I haven't seen before, really. I've seen plenty of computers like that one. The boxes next to it are something different, but they don't look all that interesting. I know those things have movies in them, though Kourin couldn't figure out how to get them to come out. I know those ear things go with cell phones, but I don't have a use for them, since only outsiders and Yukari have cell phones. I don't care about any of the other things you have in here," spoke Marisa.

"You seem to know more about the things here than anyone else. I think you're the only one in the group not to stare at me for my 'strange' clothes," replied Seigai.

"They are strange, though! I've never seen anyone wear things like that," spoke Cirno, who was looking at Seigai's computer.

"Kourin has clothes like that for sale at his shop. I took some before, though, they felt a little tight and uncomfortable. I prefer something a little more loose fitting," spoke Marisa.

"Most of my clothes would be loose for all of you. I have an extra belt for you to use, if you want. I don't have any dresses, of course, since I'm a guy. Remilia, Flandre, and Cirno would be too small to fit anything I have," spoke Seigai.

"I don't mind. I can always find something else to wear when we get back. I hope we get back. I don't like the idea of being in a place where I can't use any of my magic," replied Marisa.

"Yeah, and I don't like having to hide my wings like this. It feels way too weird," spoke Cirno.

"I have an idea of where to go to get you guys back. I'll bring it up after dinner," spoke Seigai.

"That's comforting, I suppose," spoke Marisa.

"How does this thing work?" asked Cirno.

"Well, there are a lot of things you can do with..." spoke Seigai.

"What's this?" asked Cirno, who had managed to open up one of the game representations of her world.

'Wait a minute... what is this?" asked Marisa.

Cirno had found Hisoutensoku, and was looking at it, while Marisa was freaking out.

"How is that possible?" asked Marisa.

"Um... well, in this universe, your world exists as a series of games," spoke Seigai.

"Games? Our lives are games to you?" asked Marisa, irritated at the idea.

"A game? How do I play it?" asked Cirno, looking at it like it would be fun, just as Flandre did.

"Is this really all that surprising?" asked Seigai.

"Yes! I've seen some strange things come in from the outside world, but this... this just doesn't make any sense at all!" shouted Marisa.

"Geez... Flandre and Cirno didn't freak out like this..." muttered Seigai.

"How should I respond? If your life was someone's game, wouldn't you be upset?" asked Marisa.

"I'd be wondering why someone would make a game out of it... no, you're right, I'd be a little upset, especially if they got it down to the detail. I would feel..."

"Violated," spoke Marisa, completing Seigai's sentence.

"Yeah. These just cover the incidents that took place, though. Not your personal lives. Look at it as interactive history," spoke Seigai.

"I suppose I can do that. She's having fun," spoke Marisa.

Seigai got Marisa and Cirno into the games he had while Flandre and Remilia finished in the shower. The pair opted to wear what they were. Seigai picked out a pair of black jeans and white shirt, along with a belt for Marisa, while she showered. Cirno and Flandre took turns with the games while Seigai explained them to Remilia, who didn't seem as bothered as Marisa. Cirno was next. The fairy whined about the water being too hot, forcing Seigai to have to explain how to change the water to cold again. Seigai went last, hoping his room wouldn't be destroyed in the time it took him to clean himself.

"These clothes are really loose, not like that tight stuff Kourin had," spoke Marisa.

"Well, they are a few sizes too big for you, but if they work for you, then they work for you," spoke Seigai.

"Now you have strange clothes!" shouted Cirno, while chuckling at the sight of Marisa in a different outfit.

"Meh, at least this has plenty of pockets," spoke Marisa, while feeling the pocket holding the Mini-Hakkero.

"Glad you approve," spoke Seigai.

"You think Sakuya is finished?" asked Flandre.

"I do believe so, shall we?" asked Remilia.

The group make their way down the stairs. Seigai was in awe at the sight of his dining area. Sakuya had set up dinner consisting of a seasoned tomato soup, freshly made buttered rolls, and roasted beef with a seasoned vegetable medley.

"That's... amazing," spoke Seigai, "I haven't had a meal like, since I lived with this vessel's mother. And you made this all from those canned vegetables and packaged meats?"

"I did," replied Sakuya.

"Sakuya is an excellent chef. This is hardly her best work, but she didn't have that much to work with," spoke Remilia.

"Sakuya is the best!" shouted Flandre.

"Wow, I've never eaten like this before," spoke Cirno.

"You make me wish I could copy life skills as well as magical spells," spoke Marisa.

"I've prepared a light tea, as well," spoke Sakuya.

"Where did you get this tea set?" asked Seigai.

"I carry some things with me in spell cards, same as my mistress," spoke Sakuya.

"Odd thing to carry," spoke Seigai.

"Not really; as often as she's making tea for the brats," spoke Marisa.

"I'll ignore that this time; I don't want to mare this meal," spoke Remilia.

Sakuya set out a chair for Remilia and Flandre. The others figured she set them with the food that had blood mixed into the ingredients. The others sat themselves down.

"Please enjoy the meal," spoke Sakuya, as she took a bow, before seating herself.

Seigai started on the soup, amazed at the flavor.

"Wow... you don't happen to have a sister I can marry, do you?" asked Seigai.

"I'm afraid I don't," spoke Sakuya, figuring the comment for a compliment.

"This is way better than the stuff we eat. Mystia can cook a nice dish with the right stuff, but nothing like this," spoke Cirno.

"So, Seigai here says he has an idea of how to get back," spoke Marisa.

"You do?" asked Remilia.

"I think so. It's best I tell you while I'm in front of the computer. It'll help me to explain a couple of things to you," spoke Seigai.

"If you insist. I hope it's good," spoke Remilia.

"If it doesn't, there's always capturing one of those armored men. We're bound to see another one of them," spoke Seigai.

As the group was eating, Roku made his return. He stared at the group of girls and Seigai as they were eating.

"What in the world... one of them cooks! Where's mine?" asked Roku.

"Uh, at the store. You have to buy everything and cook it yourself, though," spoke Seigai.

"Hey, you don't cook like that and not make some for me!" shouted Roku, as he tried to help himself. A knife made it's way past his head, taking off a few hairs in the process.

"I would appreciate it if you did not disrupt my mistresses while they are enjoying their meal," spoke Sakuya.

"Did I mention my friend Sakuya is an expert knife thrower?" asked Seigai.

"Hey, if you missed, that could have killed me!" shouted Roku.

"If she wanted to kill you, swine, she would have," spoke Remilia.

"Swine? Swine! You little brat!" shouted Roku, as he tried to lash out at Remilia, only to have another knife brush past him, putting a cut in the sleeve of his shirt without cutting his skin.

"You will not get a third warning," spoke Sakuya.

"Why you!" shouted Roku.

At that moment, Flandre punched Roku in the crouch, sending him onto the ground, doubled over in pain. Seigai instinctively winced.

"Flandre, that was improper," spoke Remilia.

"I know, but I heard if you do that to a man when they are being rude, they stop being rude," spoke Flandre.

"Ow..." spoke Roku, who was crying from the pain.

"How hard did you hit him?" asked Seigai.

"As hard as I could," replied Flandre.

"Oh my..." spoke Seigai.

"Nice one! I couldn't have taught you better myself, ze!" shouted Marisa.

"Huh? I missed it, do it again," spoke Cirno.

Flandre began to rise from her seat for a repeat performance.

"Don't," spoke Remilia.

"Okay," replied Flandre.

Roku crawled to the couch and pulled himself onto it, not saying another word to the group as they finished their meal. At the end of the meal, Sakuya brought out some small cakes and tea, which everyone in the group enjoyed. Seigai offered to help Sakuya clean up, though she refused, opting to take care of everything herself. She finished cleaning within a few minutes, while everyone returned to Seigai's room. Seigai offered Sakuya the use of his shower, to which she was glad to have. Sakuya took another pair of Seigai's jeans and a blue shirt.

"Now she's wearing strange clothes," spoke Cirno.

"I'm sorry again for not having anything in your size. I didn't really expect something like this to ever happen," spoke Seigai.

"Yes, well, with the exception of that swine down there, you have been very accommodating for us here. I am grateful for that much," spoke Remilia.

"Thank you," spoke Seigai.

"Wow, you being nice? I didn't think you had it in you," spoke Marisa.

"I know when to give credit where credit is due. I'm not an ungrateful guest," spoke Remilia.

"I thank you, as well, Seigai," spoke Flandre, with a smile on her face.

"So, you had an idea of how to get us back?" asked Sakuya.

"I know where to look," spoke Seigai.

"Where would that be?" asked Remilia.

"Look at his," spoke Seigai, as he pulled up a map of Japan on his computer.

"What is that?" asked Flandre.

"This is what the world looks like from the sky," replied Seigai, "And we are here."

Seigai pointed to Sarufutsu Village.

"Okay, so what does that tell us?" asked Remilia.

"The place you were in that led you to here was in Misty Lake, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yes," replied Remilia.

"About how big is it?" asked Seigai.

"Big," replied Remilia.

"Hmm... how long does it take to walk around it?" asked Seigai.

"Not even an hour," spoke Marisa.

"Okay, then... that would mean... here," spoke Seigai, pointing his cursor at Lake Poro.

"You think they're there?" asked Sakuya.

"What makes you think that?" asked Remilia.

"A few things. It can't be on the ground here. You see this right? If they tried to make some kind of military base above ground, it would be seen on things like these. If you're trying to hide something, something you don't want anyone to see, you wouldn't put it above ground. Putting a building appearing in an isolated place is a good way to get attention, while, putting it in crowded place is guaranteed to get attention, so that wouldn't work," spoke Seigai.

"Why not put it someone out there?" asked Remilia, pointing to the ocean.

"Too far out would make getting supplies back and forth difficult, while building too close will get the attention of the Maritime Self Defense Force, so that wouldn't work. They would have to pick a lake. They can't pick the bigger lakes, since they would also be monitored here. They would pick a small one, far away enough from major cities not to get noticed. It would have to be near here, since this is where all of you appeared. They wouldn't be set to appear too far from here. Lake Poro is a little larger than Misty Lake. It's the only one that meets the necessary criteria," spoke Seigai.

"How do we get there?" asked Remilia.

"Flight, at night. We're too small to be picked up by radar, and going at night would make it hard for them to track us," spoke Seigai.

"Us? You intend to come?" asked Marisa.

"That broom can hold two, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah," replied Marisa.

"I said I would help you get back. I want to do all I can to that effect. Besides, one more person would help, right?" asked Seigai.

"You can't use danmaku, though," spoke Marisa.

"I can still fight them," spoke Seigai.

"You're the stubborn type, aren't you? I can see it in your eyes," spoke Remilia.

"I want him to come," spoke Flandre.

"Well, I suppose, but if you get in the way, we'll leave you behind," spoke Remilia.

"I'm glad I have your permission," spoke Seigai.

"It's dark out now; this would be the best time, right?" asked Marisa.

"It would," spoke Seigai.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" asked Remilia.

The group collected their things, with Sakuya and Marisa storing their dirty outfits in spell cards before heading out. Seigai had a compass and a small map with him to help them find the way. Seigai hopped onto Marisa's broom, holding onto Marisa tightly as the group make their way for Lake Poro.

The group arrived at the lake within an hour, the group hovering over the surface.

"Now what?" asked Remilia.

"We wait them out. If they're here, we're bound to see them at some point. The entrance here is likely the same as the one in Gensokyo," spoke Seigai.

"I hate waiting," spoke Remilia.

"What if you're wrong?" asked Marisa.

"Then we go back and I look up another lake for us to stake out tomorrow," spoke Seigai.

"I hope this is the one," spoke Remilia.

Sakuya used her ability to manipulate time, making things go faster for everyone. Nothing happened over the lake for the first few hours they were there, leaving Remilia frustrated.

"Why do I feel like I'm wasting my time here," spoke Remilia.

"You see that," spoke Flandre, pointing out a small boat.

"Odd sight at this hour," spoke Seigai.

"There's no armored men here," spoke Remilia, "We should just wait for one to show up and beat them up."

"Maybe," spoke Seigai.

"Hey, that monster is here, too!" shouted Cirno.

"Eh?" asked Seigai.

A metal chamber arose from the lake, a pair of people on boat walked in. They were in the armor suits.

"Of course, they wouldn't fly here. They would be seen too easily," spoke Seigai.

"So, you were right after all," spoke Remilia.

"Shall we?" asked Marisa.

"Let's!" shouted Remilia.

"Yay!" shouted Flandre, as the group headed for the entrance to base.

"Whoa!" shouted Seigai, not used to traveling in this manner.

The group quickly caught the attention of the boat and two armored men, who responded by firing back at the group.

"Out of my way!" shouted Remilia, as she fired off a mass barrage of human sized scarlet danmaku.

The armored man she targeted was caught completely off guard, being blown away quickly.

"Impossible! How did you youkai find this place!" shouted the remaining armored man.

"With some help," spoke Sakuya, as she let fly a barrage of knives at high speed, one catching the armored man's right shoulder cannon.

Marisa ran up near the man, aiming her hakkero at the man.

"What are you planning?" asked Seigai.

"Master Spark!" shouted Marisa, ignoring Seigai.

The large laser came forth, blasting the armored man into oblivion.

"That boat is getting away!" shouted Seigai.

"Kyuu!" shouted Flandre, the boat bursting into a great ball of flame.

"Thank you, Flan. Sakuya, could you stop that door from closing?" asked Remilia.

Sakuya stopped time, allowing the group the chance to enter the base.

The building appeared to be the same as the one in gensokyo, with bright lighting and polished steel corridors.

"It looks alike, but smaller," spoke Marisa, setting down and allowing Seigai to get off of her broom.

"To think something like this would be here," spoke Seigai.

"Now what?" asked Marisa.

A loud alarm and red lights answered their question.

"Intruder alert, code red, repeat, intruder alert, code red," came a voice throughout the corridor.

"Well, so much for this being easy," spoke Seigai.

"Easy isn't fun!" shouted Marisa, as she readied her hakkero.

"I don't suppose so," replied Seigai.

"I love having fun!" shouted Flandre.

"We should move. Looks like there's a moving room up ahead," spoke Sakuya, pointing down the corridor in front of the group.

"Ah, an elevator, that'll do," spoke Seigai.

"Is that what those rooms are called?" asked Remilia.

Seigai nodded as the group rushed down the corridor, with Sakuya pushing the button on the door. When the door opened, ten armored men came out, firing into the group.

"Whoa! This is a lot different from the games!" shouted Seigai.

"There are no second chances here!" shouted Sakuya, as she bounced a few knives off the walls, hitting one of the armored men and knocking him back.

"Master Spark!" shouted Marisa, as she shot her trademark laser down the corridor, blowing away three of the men.

"Too bad for them this place is not meant for danmaku battles," spoke Marisa.

"Hee hee. Forbidden Barrage 'Catadioptric!'" shouted Flandre, as she sent a barrage of human sized danmaku bouncing down the corridor, leaving trails of smaller bullets behind. Two of the men were hit from behind, their armor being destroyed as well.

"_Can't let them have all the fun," _thought Seigai, as he bolted down the corridor, getting in the face of one of the armored men.

"Die!" shouted the man.

"Too slow!" shouted Seigai, as he sent a charged punch into one of the man's shoulder cannons, destroying it and sending the man stumbling back. Seigai finished him off with a round of punches, sending him exploding off the wall of the corridor.

"Scarlet Sign 'Scarlet Shoot!'" shouted Remilia, firing a barrage of human sized scarlet danmaku down the corridor. Two of the armored men weren't being careful with where they were going, and ended up crashing into one another, becoming victims of a pair of scarlet danmaku.

There were only two armored men left at this point, each one trying to weave around Flandre and Remilia's spells while firing back. One of them lost track of the smallest member of the group, running right into Cirno.

"Huh?" asked the armored man, before he saw the smiling fairy in front of him.

The man was able to get back, but not before having his arm frozen solid up to and including part of his chest.

"I can't feel my arm!" shouted the man.

"You won't be feeling anything in a moment!" shouted Cirno, as she fired a quick burst of icicle danmaku. The man was still stunned from having his arm frozen, forcing him to use the jets in his boots to move out of the way, resulting in one being hit. The jet exploded, sending the man crashing into the other remaining man, resulting in both meeting a scarlet bullet head on, resulting in their destruction.

"Nice one, icy," spoke Marisa.

"Hee hee," replied Cirno.

"Let's move!" shouted Sakuya, taking the group into the elevator.

"Alright Sakuya, which one this time?" asked Remilia.

"It was on the sixth level last time, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah," replied Sakuya.

"I doubt this facility is different from the other one. Let's try looking on the sixth level here," spoke Seigai.

Sakuya hit the button with a six, and waited for the elevator to descend. She kept an eye on the sign above the door, looking to see if they were going to stop in the middle as they did last time. The elevator made it to the sixth floor without stopping. When the door opened, they were greeted with a group of fifteen armored men, firing bullets into the elevator. The group huddled against the walls to avoid being hit.

"We're sitting ducks in here!" shouted Seigai.

"Are we? Sakuya," spoke Remilia.

"Understood," replied Sakuya, as she froze time for herself, and made her way out into the corridor. She put out a barrage of knives set to strike at each of the armored men, and unfroze time, appearing behind them to take on the survivors.

Eight of the men were taken out by the surprise attack, the group of armored men not expecting to be attacked as they were. The other seven were behind the other eight, allowing them to see the knives by their comrades, and alert them in time for them to get out of the way. Sakuya fired a barrage of bullets at the group of men, getting their attention.

"How did they get behind us!" shouted one of the armored men, while the others turned around, avoiding taking hits from the barrage. This allowed the others a chance to get out of the elevator, and fire off their own barrages in the direction of the armored men.

One of the armored men was taking out immediately, getting the attention of the others.

"We're surrounded!" shouted one of other armored men.

A barrage scarlet, indigo, star shaped, and icicle danmaku made their way for the group of armored men, while a barrage of silver knives came at them from Sakuya. The men were quickly overwhelmed and taken down, except for one. Seigai charged at the man, hitting him hard enough to crack his armor, and sent him crashing into the wall of the corridor.

"Where's the portal generator!" shouted Seigai.

"Curse you, youkai!" shouted the man, as he attempted to blast Seigai at point blank. Two knives rushed past Seigai's head, and destroyed the cannons before they could fire.

"Talk!" shouted Seigai, while aiming a strike for the man's head.

The last room at the end of the corridor!" shouted the man.

"Good," spoke Seigai, as he walked off. Remilia fired a human sized scarlet danmaku at the man, blowing him away.

"That's about as kind as we get," spoke Remilia.

"I don't like humans who are prejudiced against youkai, anyway," spoke Seigai, who had already had his hands charged to finish the man off.

The group rushed to the end of the corridor, keeping their eyes open for any more armored men. The corridor was clear, but there was a group of twenty men in the portal room, each firing off bursts of human sized danmaku at the group of girls and Seigai.

"Master..."

"Don't, you might damage the generator!" shouted Seigai, stopping Marisa.

"Oh," spoke Marisa, as the group moved out of the way of the bullets heading their way.

"Be careful not to hit the machines, Flan," spoke Remilia.

"Got it, Remi-nee!" shouted Flandre, as the pair of vampires charged into the room, firing off bursts of scarlet and indigo danmaku, defeating five of the armored men.

"Conjuring 'Illusional Misdirection!'" shouted Sakuya, while firing out bursts of danmaku and knives. Five more of the armored men were caught by surprise, taking them out of the fight.

"Star Sign 'Polaris Unique!'" shouted Marisa, while firing off exploding bursts of star shaped danmaku. The lingering bursts added up, making it difficult for the armored men to move around. Some moved to where the bursts dissipated, only to be hit with the next, resulting in three more armored men being taken out.

Seigai took advantage of Marisa's card, figuring out the timing of the bursts and rushing in behind one, hoping to hit the man behind it as soon as it disappeared. The armored man didn't see Seigai until it was too late, taking several hard punches, smashing the man into the ceiling.

"This is madness! How could something like this happen!" shouted one of the armored men.

"Because you didn't think ahead," spoke Sakuya, as she appeared behind him, already having placed a small spread of knives. The man was blown apart a moment later.

"Divine Spear 'Spear the Gungnir!'" shouted Remilia, throwing a pair of scarlet spears in the direction of the armored men. Two armored men were caught by the spears, leaving them to their end.

"Kyuu!" shouted Flandre, causing of the remaining men to explode, as a result of standing still for too long.

Two armored men remained, realizing quickly how they were outnumbered. Their panic allowed them to miss Seigai and Cirno sneaking around beside them. Seigai hit one of the men with a hard punch, while Cirno hit the other with a blast of icy air, knocking to the two into other, ending the battle.

"Nice combination," spoke Marisa.

"It was a spur of the moment thing," replied Seigai.

"Uh, what he said," spoke Cirno.

"How do we get this thing to work?" asked Sakuya.

"I think I can figure it out from here," spoke Seigai, as he made his way over to the computer console and started playing around with it.

"They didn't make this thing too hard to operate. I can even choose where you appear... hmm... don't want them to arrive to where you are... ah, here should do. If I'm reading this right, it should take you to somewhere in the forest of magic," spoke Seigai, as he activated the machine.

"Thank you for all that you've done," spoke Sakuya.

"Don't worry about it. It was a blast. A little excitement keeps things interesting," spoke Seigai.

At that moment, thirty armored men entered the room, ready to fire at the group.

"You've got to be kidding me..." muttered Seigai.

"Now what?" asked Marisa.

"Hop in there, I'll take care of this myself. If I die, I'll just find a new vessel for myself, now get going!" shouted Seigai.

The armored men started firing towards the group some were trying to damage the computer, knowing it would shutdown the portal generator. Seigai managed to jump in the way of the bullets, knocking him back hard onto the floor.

"Seigai!" shouted Flandre.

"Go!" shouted Seigai.

Remilia pulled Flandre into the portal, quickly being followed by Sakuya and Marisa. Cirno, however, didn't go in.

"What are you waiting for! You want to get stuck here!" shouted Seigai, as he knocked a bullet aimed for the computer down with his hand, burning it in the process.

"Freeze Sign 'Perfect Freeze!'" shouted Cirno, firing out a massive barrage of half human sized rainbow danmaku, a few hitting some of the armored men while surrounding some of the others. Cirno continued releasing bullets until she could no longer control the number, nearly falling from the strain of firing off so many. Cirno was quick recollect herself and rammed Seigai into the portal, diving in herself in the process.

The armored men left behind were stunned, not sure what to do. The bullets started moving again once Cirno entered the portal, resulting in the mass of bullets flying every which may. Many hit the armored men, while several struck the portal generator equipment, destroying the computer and damaging the machinery. Ten of the armored men were taken out by the barrage, while several others had been hit.

"What was that!" shouted one of the men.

"At least it's over now," spoke another.

"No, it isn't! They damaged the portal generator's coolant lines! It's beginning to overheat! We have to get out of here now!" shouted a third armored man.

The group struggled to get out as their own machine started erupting in sparks and small explosions. None of them could make it out of the building in time as the generator exploded, taking out the entire building and those occupying it. A large burst of water was shot out of Lake Poro, along with a massive fireball, a fireworks show which no one was around to see, thought several would look at the lake later and wonder why it appeared to be lower than it used to be.

Seigai awoke with a start, shaking everything that had taken place.

"Uh... that was something else... what a crazy dream... I must have had too much to drink last night or something... not that I can remember anything..." muttered Seigai.

"I see sunlight... it's too early... time to go back to sleep... sleep in my nice warm bed... wait... I don't have a bed," spoke Seigai.

Seigai shot straight up, and looked around the room where he was, recognizing it not as his own.

"Where am I!" shouted Seigai, trying to figure out what was going on, "And why does my head hurt so much!"

Seigai then noticed Flandre was sitting in a chair beside his bed, awoken from Seigai's shouting.

"Flandre? You mean that wasn't a dream?" asked Seigai.

"What was a dream?" asked Flandre.

"Flandre, where are we?" asked Seigai.

"We're home," replied Flandre.

"Home?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah! Home at the Scarlet Devil Mansion!" shouted Flandre, while bearing a huge grin.


	5. Acceleration

_Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 5 – Acceleration**

"I'm where?" asked Seigai.

"At the Scarlet Devil Mansion," spoke Flandre.

"In Gensokyo?" asked Seigai.

"Where else would we be?" asked Flandre.

Seigai sat stunned for a moment, thinking over the idea of being in _the_ Scarlet Devil Mansion in _Gensokyo._ After pondering the point for a few moments, Seigai passed back out on the bed with a burnt out expression adorning his face.

Seigai didn't wake again for another hour. When he awoke this time, he accepted where he was, over the shock of hearing it. Flandre was still in the room, watching over him with a smile.

"Okay, I'm here, I get that much... um..." spoke Seigai, as he looked down, "Where is my shirt?"

At that moment, Sakuya entered the room, bowing in front of Seigai. She had returned to wearing her maid outfit.

"Good to see you are awake, Seigai-san," spoke Sakuya.

"Yeah, awake and in need of some answers to some questions, like what happened to my shirt?" asked Seigai.

"It was torn and burnt from when you had been shot. We had your wounds tended to after we arrived. Fortunately, the injuries were not too severe," spoke Sakuya.

Seigai noted the bandages on his body and hand, remembering how he had taken hits to make sure the others could get back to Gensokyo.

"Okay, I remember getting shot... well, I still have my pants on... that's right, I didn't get shot there," spoke Seigai.

"I can have your shirt repaired, if you wish. I have the shirt you allowed me to wear, as well," spoke Sakuya.

"I suppose I can wear it for now. If I'm going to be here for a while, I should probably find some more appropriate clothing; I don't think it would be that good of an idea to stand out too much.

"Yes, outsiders do tend to gather a great amount of attention upon first arriving," replied Sakuya.

"Outsiders get scared really easy, too," spoke Flandre.

"I can imagine; they likely hadn't seen a youkai before coming here; naturally they would be a little frightened," replied Seigai.

"You may stay here for the time being. I can escort you to the human village later, if you wish to settle here. If not, I can escort you to the shrine, where you may leave here and settle in the outside world," spoke Sakuya.

"I'm not sure that would work out so well. I'm not from the outside world of this dimension, really. For all I know, there's another one of me out there... that could make things awkward," replied Seigai.

"You really think there's another one of you here?" asked Flandre.

"Maybe. Gensokyo should have existed before I was hunted down and killed, so if I'm here, I would be going by Gen'ichiro," replied Seigai.

"I've never met a youkai with that name," spoke Sakuya.

"I've never heard of anyone by that name, either," spoke Flandre.

"I see... well, I can worry about that another time. Actually, given how I existed in my world, there could be another Seigai here, too. Now that would be rather strange," spoke Seigai.

"I take it this means you wish to reside in Gensokyo for the time being?" asked Sakuya.

"Yeah. That would probably be for the best. I'm still a youkai, of sorts. I don't really belong in the outside world. If I get the chance to get back to my world, I'll take it. For now, I'll just try to make the best of this situation," spoke Seigai.

"That would be the best course of action; however, if you choose to try to get back to your home, we will try to offer whatever assistance we can," spoke Sakuya.

"Thank you," replied Seigai, "So, now for my second question: how did I get here?"

"I can answer this for you, as well," spoke Sakuya.

Mokou was walking through the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, as she often did, looking for anyone who may have ended up in the forest. She had made her way to Keine's house the previous day, learning of the incident of Flandre's kidnapping.

"_Such an odd turn of events. I wonder why they don't consult with Reimu. This _is_ the kind of thing she takes care of,"_ thought Mokou, as she was walking along, with no particular destination in mind. She paused when she sensed something was out of place.

"_What is this feeling?"_ thought Mokou, as she looked around. She saw a distortion in the air, where the sky appeared to be swirling.

"_Is this what Keine was talking about?"_ thought Mokou, as she took a defensive stance, waiting to see if the armored men she heard about were going to appear. It was then that Remilia and Flandre came out, landing on their feet, and looking around.

"Stupid Seigai! He got the wrong forest!" shouted Remilia.

"At least we got back," spoke Flandre.

"I suppose," spoke Remilia.

"Remilia?" asked Mokou.

"Hm? Mokou? Yep, we're in the wrong forest," spoke Remilia.

"What in the world is going on?" asked Mokou.

At that moment, Sakuya and Marisa arrived, their appearances surprising Mokou.

"Marisa? Sakuya? And what's with those clothes?" asked Mokou.

"Mokou?" asked Sakuya.

"Bamboo?" asked Marisa.

"He got the wrong forest," spoke Remilia.

"Oh, that explains it. Well, at least he tried. We're back, so that's good enough for me, ze," spoke Marisa.

"I didn't want to leave Seigai like that. I hope he manages to find a way out of the situation he landed himself in," spoke Sakuya.

"Who's Seigai?" asked Mokou.

"The one who gave us these clothes," spoke Marisa.

"I see... you were in the outside world, weren't you?" asked Mokou.

"Not quite," spoke Sakuya.

"It's complicated," spoke Marisa.

"I'm sure," replied Mokou, "but at least you were able to find Flandre."

"Yep! Thanks to Seigai!" shouted Flandre.

"Yes, I do owe him for bringing us back together. It is a shame we had to do what we did, but we couldn't lose this chance to get back here," spoke Remilia.

"He knew that, and I know he isn't holding it against us," spoke Sakuya.

"I wish he came with us," spoke Flandre.

"This isn't his world, though. He belongs in his world, just as we belong here in Gensokyo," replied Remilia.

"I know, but I wanted to spend more time with him, and find a way to better thank him for saving me," spoke Flandre.

"We may see him again one day, you can thank him then," spoke Remilia.

"I hope so," replied Flandre, though both of them were sure they would never see him again.

"Hey, where's the idiot, ze?" asked Marisa.

"Idiot?" asked Mokou.

"That ice fairy, Cirno, ended up joining us," answered Remilia.

"Oh, _that_ idiot. I've never met her personally, but from what I here, she does act rather foolishly for someone who has as much power as she does," spoke Mokou.

"She's still just a fairy, after all," spoke Remilia.

The portal opened up above everyone again, catching the groups attention.

"About time," spoke Marisa.

"Careful, some of those armored men may get through," spoke Sakuya, as she took a defensive stance, prompting Mokou and the others to do the same.

At that moment, they saw something run out of the portal at high speed, heading straight for the ground. It hit a rock on the ground before it stopped moving.

"Seigai?" asked Sakuya.

"So this is Seigai?" asked Mokou, while looking him over.

Seigai's head had met with the rock, knocking him out instantly. Cirno's head was buried into his gut, her body sprawled out on top of him. The ice fairy was able to get herself back up, shaking herself a little while flapping her wings to get her hovering.

"That hurt," spoke Cirno, while looking around.

"He, what are you all staring at?" asked Cirno.

A few moments later, a huge fireball erupted from the portal before it suddenly closed, quickly snapping everyone's attention.

"Huh. I must have hit something important," spoke Cirno.

"Why is he here?" asked Remilia, while pointing at Seigai.

"What? I couldn't just leave him like that. It wasn't fair! I don't ever leave a comrade behind!" shouted Cirno.

"He told us to leave, you idiot! This isn't his world, you know!" shouted Marisa.

"But I didn't want him to die. I don't care if he could come back or whatever, I just couldn't leave him!" shouted Cirno.

"Let it be," spoke Sakuya, "He's here now, and we can't send him back. From the looks of things, he can't get back for the time being."

"Well, now that you have yourselves together, can one of you explain what is going on?" asked Mokou.

Sakuya explained everything that had taken place to Mokou. She found it hard to believe at first, but after seeing them come out of the portal, there was little room for doubt.

"I see, so that's what happened. I can have him taken to Eientei for medical treatment," spoke Mokou, noting the wounds on Seigai's body from where he had been shot.

"We should do that," spoke Sakuya.

"Agreed," replied Remilia.

"I'm just glad he's okay," spoke Flandre.

"Yeah, I'm glad he made it," spoke Cirno.

"Hopefully he won't be too surprised when he wakes up," spoke Marisa.

"I'll carry him," spoke Sakuya, as she picked up Seigai, placing him over her shoulder.

"Follow me," spoke Mokou.

Mokou led the group through the forest, taking them to Eirin's clinic.

"Oh, look at what showed up," spoke Kaguya, who had been taking a walk.

"Later, Kaguya," grumbled Mokou, as she led the group into the building.

"Oh my, he looks rough, doesn't he? And such odd clothes," spoke Kaguya.

"He did save all of us from a rather bothersome situation, do try to treat him with a little respect," spoke Remilia.

"Oh, did he, now? Well, then," spoke Kaguya, as she continued on her walk.

"I really don't like her," spoke Flandre.

"That's just how she is," spoke Mokou, as she continued to lead the group along.

"Reisen!" shouted Mokou.

"Hm? Oh, Mokou, and Sakuya... and Remilia... and Marisa... and Cirno... and... I don't think I've met you," spoke Reisen.

"Flandre, Remi-nee's sister," spoke Flandre.

"I see. Who is that?" asked Reisen of Seigai.

"He's injured," spoke Sakuya.

"An outsider?" asked Reisen.

"Sort of. Is Eirin available?" asked Sakuya.

"Of course," replied Reisen, as she went to get the Lunarian Doctor.

Eirin appeared in a few moments.

"Oh, another outsider, Mokou?" asked Eirin.

"That's one way to put it. I can give you the details later," replied Mokou.

"I see. This way, please," spoke Eirin.

Eirin took the group to a modest room, large enough for everyone. There was a table at the far end with some instruments set around it.

"Lay him down here, Sakuya," spoke Eirin.

Sakuya laid out Seigai's body on the table, careful not to disturb his injuries.

"This will take a little while, depending on his injuries," spoke Eirin. Udonge, I'll need your help, the rest of you may wait outside.

The others left Eirin to her work, who began looking over his injuries.

"We'll have to get this shirt off of him," spoke Eirin, "hold him up for me."

Reisen did as instructed, leaving Eirin to carefully remove Seigai's damaged shirt. There were burning wounds on his body, but they weren't very deep.

"Looks like he was hit with danmaku," spoke Reisen.

"He was, but they should have injured him more. These injuries aren't as extensive as they should be. His body is already healing them, as well, at a rate slightly higher than that of a normal humans. What is this person?" asked Eirin.

"They didn't make mention of it to me," replied Reisen.

"Well, Mokou did say she would give me the details later. Let's see... he had a bruise here in the middle from blunt force trauma, and a bump on his head, likely what knocked him out... looks like a mild concussion," spoke Eirin.

"So, he's not really all that bad off, is he?" asked Reisen.

"No, he's not. If he was human, he would be in a terrible state right now. I can only guess what kind of impact was aimed at his head, but judging from the low amount of injury here, it was likely enough force to crack a normal human's skull," replied Eirin.

Eirin and Reisen continued looking over Seigai, Eirin making sure her initial assessment was correct. After bandaging his wounds, Eirin called for everyone else to return.

"How was he?" asked Flandre.

"Not that bad off," replied Eirin, "He should have been in worse shape than he was."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakuya.

"Is he a youkai?" asked Eirin.

"Perhaps we should tell you what he told us," replied Sakuya, as she explained Seigai's history to the Lunarian, getting a strange reaction when Sakuya told of how Seigai supposedly reincarnates himself every time he dies.

"I see, so that's why... but to be able to do something like that, to defy the laws of nature. Did he ever mention something like the Hourai Elixir?" asked Eirin.

"He didn't mention anything of the sort," replied Sakuya.

"He just separates his soul and puts it in a new body? That shouldn't be possible. The soul can't exist in this world without a body; it loses it's sense of self, only holding onto the need for a vessel. It couldn't willfully choose a vessel, though. It would end up settling in the first living thing it found, such as a flower, just as the souls that appeared in Gensokyo did during the flowering incident," spoke Eirin.

"What does that mean?" asked Flandre.

"Did he say what his ability was?" asked Eirin.

"He told me he can't use his abilities until he's been in a body for a long time," spoke Flandre, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"He would need a special ability to do this," spoke Sakuya.

"A special ability?" asked Flandre.

"What kind of ability?" asked Remilia.

"You'd have to ask him that for yourself. 'Wolf Youkai' doesn't mean anything to me. I've never heard of such a type of youkai before. The only youkai that comes to mind is the wolf tengu, but I've never heard of wolf tengu with an ability that would allow him to do this," spoke Eirin.

"We'll ask him, but we can't force an answer," replied Sakuya.

"I know, but I hope he is forthcoming. Well, other than that, he's just unconscious. Just a mild concussion; he shouldn't be out for too long," spoke Eirin.

"Thank you," replied Sakuya.

"Thanks for taking care of him," spoke Flandre.

Eirin bowed to the group, and everyone headed out of Eientei, running into Kaguya just outside.

"Is he okay?" asked Kaguya.

"Just unconscious," spoke Sakuya.

"I see. Well, be careful on your journey," spoke Kaguya.

"We'll be fine! We can take on anything!" shouted Cirno.

"Oh, so you can," spoke Kaguya, lightly chuckling as she walked back towards Eientei.

"She's different than she was earlier," spoke Flandre.

"She's only a brat around Mokou. She's like this otherwise," spoke Remilia.

"Where is Mokou?" asked Sakuya.

"Hourai 'Fujiyama Volcano!'" came the shout of Mokou, while balls of fire danmaku and Kaguya came storming out of Eientei.

"Not again," came a voice in front of the group.

"Oh, look, a lucky item," spoke Marisa.

"Perhaps you should stay in the forest a little longer, Tewi," spoke Sakuya.

"Na, I'll just watch. If you want to learn to be better, you watch those who are better than you," spoke Tewi, as she watched Mokou and Kaguya have another one of their fights.

"Let's go," spoke Remilia.

The group made their over the forest, with Sakuya continuing to carry Seigai. Everyone went their separate ways when they arrived at Misty Lake, with Marisa returning to the Forest of Magic and Cirno heading to her place over the lake. Everyone had an eye out over the lake to see if the armored men were around. They appeared to be inactive at the moment, allowing the group to breathe a sigh of relief.

"After that, I had the staff set up this room for you. Flandre wanted to keep any eye on you, so she stayed in here, waiting for you to wake," spoke Sakuya.

"I see. I'm not sure if I should thank that fairy or throttle her," spoke Seigai.

"She just wanted to make sure you didn't have to die," spoke Flandre.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll thank her the next time I see her, then," replied Seigai.

"So, what do you plan to do now?" asked Sakuya.

"Well, since I should let these injuries recover for a little while longer before doing anything too strenuous, maybe I should do some reading? Patchouli doesn't mind company, does she?" asked Seigai.

"As long as you don't steal from her or bother her while she's trying to read. Patchy gets really mad when you interrupt her while she's busy reading something," spoke Flandre.

"I'll keep that in mind, then," spoke Seigai, "and I guess I should find a tailor in the near future, since these clothes will have me sticking out a little too much here."

"When you are ready, I can take you to the human village for that," replied Sakuya.

"Thank you," replied Seigai, "So, which way to the library?"

"I can take you there!" shouted Flandre.

"Oh, well then, lead the way!" shouted Seigai, with a grin on his face.

Flandre led Seigai through the mansion and to the Voile Library. Koakuma was flying around gathering some books while Patchouli sat at one of the desks, her attention focused on those entering her domain.

"Oh, Flandre, and our guest," spoke Patchouli.

"I never thought I would get to meet you in person," spoke Seigai.

"I never thought there would be a world where Gensokyo's incidents are games," replied Patchouli.

"You guys told her about that?" asked Seigai.

"We had to tell Patchy and Meiling; we did have them worrying about us," replied Flandre.

"I see," spoke Seigai, "So you already know about me?"

"I do. I don't mind having someone come in here to read, but my books remain here," spoke Patchouli.

"I'm not Marisa; I'll be sure to take care of the books I choose to look at, Patchouli-san," spoke Seigai.

"Very well," spoke Patchouli.

"Could you point me in the direction of books on youkai possessing humans?" asked Seigai.

"I can," spoke Patchouli. The magician chanted a small spell and pointed towards the shelves, a lit trail forming along the direction she was pointing.

"Thank you," spoke Seigai.

Patchouli went back to reading the book she was looking at. It appeared to be about how to deal with chronic illness. There were a few such books laid out on her table.

Seigai found his way to the section in question, though he found the books he wanted were near the top of the shelves, which were several stories high.

"Oh my," spoke Seigai.

"I can get them for you," spoke Flandre, as she made her way up to where the light trail Patchouli made ended. Flandre gathered a few of the books from that section and returned to where Seigai was waiting. The pair walked over to a desk and sat down.

"Why do you want to read? Reading regular books is boring," spoke Flandre.

"I know; I often don't have the patience for it myself, but I'm curious to see if there have been other people like me in Gensokyo, and if there's a way to regain my youkai form a little faster," replied Seigai.

"Why do you want to do that?" asked Flandre.

"Well, if I'm going to be here, I'll need my youkai abilities. Flying, for example, would be rather helpful, since I can't even use this library as I am right now," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," spoke Flandre.

"And I can't play danmaku like this either, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah! I want to see some of your spell cards!" shouted Flandre.

"Tell you what, as soon as I become a youkai again, I'll show you my spells. We'll have a little danmaku match to show off," spoke Seigai.

"Yay!" shouted Flandre.

Seigai started reading through the books Flandre got for him. Flandre tried to read one of them, but ended up getting bored and opted to leave to see what Meiling and Sakuya were doing, leaving Seigai to himself in the library. Seigai spent a couple of hours reading through the books, until he found something interesting in one of them.

"A spell that can accelerate youkai possession of a human? Hmm..." thought aloud Seigai, as he read about the spell in question.

_Ah, so there is a catch, as much as I thought. A spell like that alone would be rather dangerous. So, I have to find someone to cast it for me. Hmm... well, I could ask," _thought Seigai.

Seigai held the book in his hand, saving the page he was on, and looked for Patchouli. She was just returning to her desk, about to resume reading through her books again.

"Can I help you?" asked Patchouli.

"Yeah. I found an interesting spell," spoke Seigai.

"That's nice," spoke Patchouli.

"I need help with it," spoke Seigai.

"Do you?" asked Patchouli.

"It'll help me regain my full youkai powers, but I can't do it alone. Since this spell can be easily abused, it's set that so another person has to cast it, to prevent a youkai from single-handedly absorbing a human. I figured you would be the best person here for the task," spoke Seigai.

"Interesting. It has been a while since the last time I looked over that book. I didn't think much of it at the time. I didn't have anyone to perform the spell with. It would benefit me to further my knowledge of the spell by actually practicing it. However, I can't just do it on a whim," replied Patchouli.

"What do you mean?" asked Seigai.

"Before I perform high level spells, I always seek the permission of Remilia," spoke Patchouli.

"Makes sense, I suppose. If I had a mansion like this, I wouldn't want someone performing potentially dangerous spells under my roof without someone telling me about it first," replied Seigai.

"Remilia will be asleep for a while yet. She rarely wakes this early in the day. We may ask her during dinner this evening," spoke Patchouli.

"Thank you for being so willing to help me," replied Seigai.

"As I said, this will help me to further my knowledge," spoke Patchouli.

"Well, still, thank you," spoke Seigai.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" asked Patchouli.

"Well, I can't put these back by myself; I can't really fly in this form," spoke Seigai.

"I understand. Koakuma!" shouted Patchouli.

The little devil appeared next to Patchouli at hearing her name called.

"Yes, Patchouli-sama?" asked Koakuma.

"Please return these books to their proper place," spoke Patchouli.

Koakuma bowed before making her way to the place the books belonged, with Seigai watching her move off.

"It's amazing that either of you can remember where everything is in here. I mix up the locations of where I place my things all the time, and I don't really have all that much," spoke Seigai.

"After being here for as long as I have, I've learned to memorize where everything is. I have the entire inventory of this library committed to memory. I am even aware of all the books that have left this library and have yet to be returned," spoke Patchouli.

"Wow. Well, I'll be sure to keep everything I touch in here in an organized manner. Thank you again for your assistance," spoke Seigai.

Patchouli went back to her reading while Seigai departed the library, trying to remember his way through the mansion.

"_I knew this place is a lot bigger on the inside than it seems, but still,"_ thought Seigai, as he was wandering through the halls. He made his way to the foyer, and opted to take a short walk around the mansion, not wanting to stay inside for the entire day.

Seigai looked out at the garden in front of him. He saw Meiling standing guard, while Flandre was in the courtyard, not wanting to go out too far on her own after what happened.

"Hey! Seigai!" shouted Flandre, noting Seigai walking around.

"Oh, hey Flandre," replied Seigai.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Flandre.

"I think so. Patchouli said she was going to help me with this spell I found later, assuming your sister allows it," spoke Seigai.

"Remi-nee always does. She never turns down Patchouli's requests to perform spells. Remi-nee doesn't understand why she feels she has to ask all the time," replied Flandre.

"I guess she's just being polite, or doesn't want to do anything that may upset your sister, or something," spoke Seigai.

"Maybe. Remi-nee is always talking about how I should mind my manners all the time. She would make sure everyone minded their manners, including Patchouli," replied Flandre.

"I suppose I should be on my best behavior, too; I wouldn't want to get your sister mad at me," spoke Seigai.

"Remi-nee gets into fights with people that make her mad. She gets into them all the time with Black-white-nee," replied Flandre, "I wonder if she's going to show up today?"

"Who knows? I would rather her not come here and put Patchouli in a bad mood. If this spell works, I'll be a full youkai again by the end of the day. Ah, I can't wait!" shouted Seigai.

"You really are excited about it, aren't you?" asked Flandre.

"Well... if you didn't have your abilities, then knew you were suddenly going to get them, wouldn't you be a little excited?" asked Seigai.

"I would. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't fly or 'kyuu' things," spoke Flandre.

"I can't wait to show you my spell cards. I hope you'll find them to be fun," replied Seigai.

"I can't wait to show you all of mine," spoke Flandre, while bearing a mischievous grin.

"While we're out here, care to show me all of the courtyard?" asked Seigai.

"Sure! There are so many pretty flowers here," spoke Flandre, as she guided Seigai through the courtyard.

While Flandre was guiding Seigai, Remilia was watching the pair, waking up a little earlier due to her body not fully recovering from the events of the past few days.

"_What is it about this that bothers me?"_ thought Remilia, while watching the pair enjoy their time out in the courtyard.

"_I can tell that Flandre is quite fond of him, for one reason or another. He seems rather aloof to it, but still... well, so far, he's shown himself to be a person of good character. There aren't too many here who aren't frightened to be around Flandre. Even those two fairies from before were scared of her when they saw her, I'm sure,"_ thought Remilia, before she returned to her bed, trying to get a little more sleep before waking for the night.

"I haven't seen a garden like this in quite some time. Ever since they started to modernize, places like this started to disappear from where I lived. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a western style garden before," spoke Seigai.

"I like being out here. There are a lot of places where I can just relax out here. It's better than being stuck in the basement all the time. I know it was for my protection and everything, but I'm glad that I can come out now," replied Flandre.

"I couldn't imagine being locked away like that. I would understand if it was for the safety of others, but still... being locked down there for hundreds of years would wear on my nerves. You must have nerves of steel," spoke Seigai.

"No, not really. I wasn't alone. Sakuya would visit all the time when she was bringing me my food. Even Remi-nee would come down there once in a while. I had all the things I needed down there, though, I would end up breaking a lot of the things they gave me," spoke Flandre.

"It's not like that now, though, right?" asked Seigai.

"Yep! Things are much better now. I don't even break things as much as I used to. I just enjoyed making things 'kyuu' so much, I didn't really think about it being a bad thing," spoke Flandre.

"I can see why. Even I've had a fascination with the destruction of things before. Every now and then, I would just smash up something just to see how much abuse it could take before it lost its form," replied Seigai.

"Yeah, that's what it was like for me. I would keep hitting things and shooting at them until there was nothing left. When I did it to people, that's when Remi-nee decided I should stay in the basement. I stopped doing it to people when I met Black-white-nee and Red-white-nee," spoke Flandre.

"I wouldn't mind getting a chance to meet Reimu. Maybe after I'm a full youkai again we can go and see her," spoke Seigai.

"It has been a while since the last time I got to see her. We should do that," spoke Flandre.

"Maybe you could show me around Gensokyo?" asked Seigai.

"I can't really do that; I haven't seen most of Gensokyo, either. I've been here for so long. I've only left the island with Sakuya and Remi-nee to go shopping," replied Flandre.

"Well, then we can both experience everything together," spoke Seigai.

"Yeah! We should do that, too!" shouted Flandre, as the pair continued walking through the courtyard. The pair made it to gate, where a sleeping Meiling stood.

"She sleeps while standing?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah, she does that a lot," replied Flandre.

"I've done that before, but only because I was really tired," replied Seigai, "And I ended up falling down."

"Meiling never falls, even if you surprise where when you wake her up," spoke Flandre.

"I wonder about that... well, I'm usually polite and kind to women, but at the same time, I can't stand slackers, so... ah! Armored men!" shouted Seigai, right next to Meiling.

The Chinese girl was quick to get herself up and into a fighting position, firing off several rainbow projectiles in front of her before stopping.

"Did I get them!" shouted Meiling.

"Get who?" asked Seigai.

Flandre started laughing at the sight, which made Meiling blush in embarrassment.

"Sorry, too easy," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, heh heh," replied Meiling, trying to dismiss the moment with a light chuckle.

"Sorry about that, that was rather rude of me," spoke Seigai.

"No, no, I shouldn't have been sleeping," replied Meiling.

"But it's fun waking you up!" shouted Flandre.

"And you don't punch me in the shoulder like that bothersome Roku would do when I had to wake him," spoke Seigai.

Yes, well... you are Seigai, right?" asked Meiling.

"Yep, that's me. I guess we haven't formally met, replied Seigai.

"It is nice to meet you. My personal thanks for helping the little sister," spoke Meiling.

"Just doing what felt right," replied Seigai, _"That, and how can't I save a cute girl?"_

"Sei-kun was really great! He did so much to make sure we got back home," spoke Flandre.

"_Sei-kun? I could get used to that,"_ thought Seigai.

"I had to make sure Flan-chan got back safely," replied Seigai.

"I'm grateful, and I'm sure the mistress is as well. She wouldn't allow you to remain here otherwise," spoke Meiling.

"I do plan to thank her for allowing me to stay. I have much to learn about this land I'm now in," spoke Seigai.

"You'll do fine," spoke Meiling, "We all get a little lost and confused at first, but everyone finds their own way eventually. May yours bring you good fortune," spoke Meiling.

"I can only hope my fortune is as good as yours," replied Seigai.

"_I hope he gets to stay with us,"_ thought Flandre.

"I think the mistress will be waking soon. The sun is already starting to set," spoke Meiling.

"Oh, it is, isn't it?" asked Seigai.

"Time always moves too fast when you're having fun. I wonder why that is? Maybe Sakuya would know?" asked Flandre.

"Maybe," spoke Seigai.

The pair of Flandre and Seigai waved to Meiling as they returned to the mansion. Sakuya's staff were working on preparing dinner, while Sakuya herself was tending to Remilia, getting her ready for the night. As Flandre and Seigai made their way in, Remilia and Sakuya made their way down the stairs.

"Ah, Flandre and Seigai. Just in time," spoke Remilia.

"Remilia, thank you for your hospitality, and for taking me to Eientei before," spoke Seigai.

"You saved my sister and got us back here. This is my thanks to you," replied Remilia.

"I'm honored," spoke Seigai.

"I will see to the final preparations of this evening's meal. I will send for Patchouli and Koakuma, as well" spoke Sakuya, as she returned to the kitchen, gathering some of the maid staff and giving orders to them as she walked along.

"I see you two have been spending most of the day together," spoke Remilia.

"We have. I showed Seigai around the gardens today. We had fun looking at all the different flowers and stuff," replied Flandre.

"I must say, it is an impressive work," spoke Seigai.

"I'm glad it meets with your approval. Seigai, may I speak to you alone for a moment?" asked Remilia.

"Of course," spoke Seigai.

Remilia led Seigai to a small room a small distance down the hall. Remilia closed the door, making sure Flandre didn't follow them in.

"Seigai, what do you think of Flandre?" asked Remilia.

"Eh?" asked Seigai.

"What do you think of my sister?" asked Remilia.

"Well, she is a charming girl, full of energy and excitement. She's someone I enjoy being with," replied Seigai.

"Do you think she's cute and attractive?" asked Remilia.

"Well, of course. She is beautiful. I think it's her eyes that catch me the most, their deep shade of red is alluring; I feel I could get lost in them... um, why are you asking?" asked Seigai.

"Flandre has become rather fond of you rather quickly. I can see it from how she looks at you," spoke Remilia.

"What do you mean by 'fond' of me?" asked Seigai.

"She likes you, perhaps more than she would like a friend," spoke Remilia.

"What? Like that? This quickly?" asked Seigai.

"Haven't you heard of love at first sight?" asked Remilia.

"I have, and I have experienced the feeling before in my life, though nothing came of it," replied Seigai.

"What would you do if Flandre developed strong feelings for you?" asked Remilia.

"I can't say for sure, to be honest with you. I've been cautious with forming those kinds of bonds before. I know I wouldn't have to worry about the things I had to worry about before while here, but still... it's not something I could just simply get over so quickly," replied Seigai.

"You didn't seem to be having any problems earlier," spoke Remilia.

"I can still have a good time with a girl; I'm not scared of girls," replied Seigai.

"I see. Well, you say you can't say for sure, so just say what you feel. What would you do if Flandre came up to you right now and said she loved you?" asked Remilia.

"I really don't know... I would try my best to return those feelings, I suppose, but I'm not the type to just fall in love at the drop of the hat. It takes time for me," replied Seigai.

"I understand. I'm sure by now you've figured out why we're having this conversation, correct?" asked Remilia.

"You think that could happen," answered Seigai.

"I love Flandre. I would do anything for her happiness. I realize what I've done in the past may not have been for the best, and I try everyday to reconcile the past with the present. For the first time in nearly five centuries, I have my sister back. I don't want someone to take her away again," spoke Remilia, "And I'm worried that she may return to how she was if her heart was broken."

"I see. So you want to know what I would do then," replied Seigai.

"Correct. You would be doing the right thing, if you did as you say you would. Flandre is a little innocent still, even as old as she is. She can love, but such an experience is new for her. She doesn't know how to handle it. You, however, do. I can gather that much from what you've told us about your past. I still don't know you all that well, but from what I do know, I feel I could very well trust you with Flandre's heart," spoke Remilia.

"I am greatly honored, Remilia," replied Seigai.

"That trust has yet to have been fully earned, of course. I may look like a child, but I do not go trusting people as easily as a child would. I'll be keeping my eyes on you while you are in this mansion. I hope that you will be able to help me with keeping Flandre happy," spoke Remilia.

"I will do what I can in that regard," spoke Seigai.

"I hope so," replied Remilia.

"May I ask you something? It's not related to this conversation, but since we're here together, I would like to ask," spoke Seigai.

"You may," replied Remilia.

"I found this spell that will allow me to accelerate the process of becoming a full youkai. Patchouli would like to perform it on me. Do we have your permission for this?" asked Seigai.

"Oh, another one of Patchouli's experiments? I have no problem. She would never perform a spell that would put me, Flandre, or any of the other inhabitants of this mansion in danger," replied Remilia.

"Thank you, Remilia," replied Seigai.

"It would be beneficial to you. If you wish to keep Flandre happy, you'll need to be a little more sturdy than a human," spoke Remilia.

"I figured as much," replied Seigai.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for my evening meal," spoke Remilia.

"Ah, indeed. I wonder what Sakuya has prepared? If what she made at my house wasn't her best, then what she could make here should leave me in awe," replied Seigai.

"It will," spoke Remilia.

The pair left the room, making their way for the dining area. Flandre was nearby, waiting for the pair to come out.

"Hey Remi-nee! Sei-kun!" spoke Flandre.

"Ready for dinner, Flandre?" asked Remilia.

"Yep! I can't wait!" shouted Flandre.

Seigai smiled as the trio entered the grand dining hall. There was a huge table in place, though only the end near the head of the table had been set. Patchouli and Koakuma were already waiting for the rest of the group.

"Ah, Patchouli, I suppose if you're already here, then we're running a little behind," spoke Remilia.

"Perhaps," replied Patchouli.

"Remi-nee and Sei-kun were talking about something," spoke Flandre.

"Oh, is that what it was?" asked Patchouli.

"Yes. I told Seigai you can perform the spell. I don't have a problem with it," replied Remilia.

"Thank you, Remilia," replied Patchouli.

Sakuya and a small contingent of fairy maids entered the room, carrying in the first course of the evening, sweet potato soup, which Seigai enjoyed thoroughly. The main course of the evening was what looked like a roasted turkey, though Seigai thought it tasted like something else, not that he or anyone else complained. The meal ended with a cherry pie with a freshly made cream topping. At the end of the meal, everyone, except Sakuya, make their way down to the library.

"I see you're all curious about this spell," spoke Patchouli.

"Not as much as Seigai's youkai form. That's what I want to see," replied Remilia.

"I want to be the first one to see him; he promised me a danmaku duel," spoke Flandre.

"You'll be waiting for a while. This spell takes a day to complete," spoke Patchouli.

"An entire day?" asked Remilia.

"Well, twelve hours. It depends on how far his body has already progressed. It could take more or less time. The type of youkai he is could also adjust the time," replied Patchouli.

"I see," spoke Remilia.

"Before I can begin, Seigai, I need to know what exactly you are. Wolf youkai doesn't tell me a lot," replied Patchouli.

"What exactly I am? Well, I'm a hybrid. I just use wolf youkai, since it's easier," replied Seigai.

"A hybrid of what?" asked Remilia.

"My mother was a White-wolf Tengu, while my father was a Were-hakutaku," replied Seigai.

"Is that what you are?" asked Flandre.

"What kinds of abilities do you have?" asked Patchouli.

"Well, my main ability is energy manipulation," replied Seigai.

"Energy manipulation?" asked Remilia.

"What is that?" asked Flandre.

"I can control different kinds of energy. For example, I could control elemental energy and make elemental danmaku. I can use light energy to increase my strength. Since I'm part Were-hakutaku, I have a strong affinity with the moon. I don't transform, but I do get a power boost, the best is during the full moon. I can use the sun to a lesser extent, as well. I can't turn someone's attacks against them, though. That takes too much concentration to be used effectively in battle. I can use a variety of spells, though I prefer winter themed spells and spiritual spells. Oh, and a couple high-level forbidden spells for flavor," replied Seigai.

"Forbidden?" asked Remilia.

"Just the stuff I keep on hand for people I really don't like. And one that Flandre would probably have fun with," replied Seigai.

"I have a rule against blowing up anything in this mansion. Be sure to keep that in mind," spoke Remilia.

"I will," replied Seigai.

"I take it this ability of yours also fuels your 'immortality?'" asked Remilia.

"Immortality? I try not to look at it that way, but I suppose yes," replied Seigai.

"How does it work?" asked Flandre.

"I encase myself in a vessel made up of the energy of the objects surrounding me. It keeps me from losing my sense of self until I can find a new vessel. If someone could sense me in that form, though, they could find a way to destroy it, resulting in a permanent death. That's yet to happen to me, but still, I prefer to avoid thinking of it as a form of immortality," explained Seigai.

"I see," spoke Remilia, _"This is what Eirin wanted to know. Perhaps I'll tell her the next time I see her."_

"Hmm..." muttered Patchouli, while reviewing the details of the spell.

"Seeing if my actual species affects anything?" asked Seigai.

"Yes. I don't see anything in here on it, so you should be fine. It does mention, though, that there will be some discomfort," replied Patchouli.

"Well, nothing's perfect. I can deal with it," spoke Seigai.

Patchouli nodded, while reviewing the details of the spell one more time.

"Well, if this is going to take so long, I suppose we'll leave, then. Do make sure you get some rest, Patchouli, and don't overexert yourself," spoke Remilia.

"I'll be careful," replied Patchouli.

"Bye Sei-kun!" shouted Flandre.

Remilia and Flandre left the library together, while Seigai awaited the start of the spell.

"Is there anything you need for this spell?" asked Koakuma.

"I will need my long-spell aid, beyond that, there are no further requirements," replied Patchouli.

"I will prepare it, then," spoke Koakuma, as she disappeared into the library. After a few minutes, Koakuma returned with what looked like some kind of tea.

"What is that?" asked Seigai.

"This will keep me from falling asleep while performing the spell. It's a special elixir that removes one's need to sleep for a day. It can be used as often as necessary, though it is said it will eventually put strain on the mind. I only use it for performing spells such as this," explained Patchouli.

"I see," replied Seigai.

Patchouli drank the elixir, then held out the book with the spell in front of her. Patchouli began to chant out the spell. As she did so, an aura started to form around Seigai. It was a faint blue at first, then it became a bright blue, as bright as the sky with a white center just above Seigai's skin. Seigai's form was enveloped in the aura as Patchouli continued chanting. Seigai started to mutter some groans of pain, only to be shut out by the aura surrounding him. Koakuma watched in fascination as Patchouli continued the spell.

In the building below the surface of Misty Lake, Commander Jin was making his return from the "shrine." The air tensed around him, suggesting to him that something was amiss. The other soldiers gave him a wide birth, acting out of caution. Jin continued to make his way down to the level where Flandre was supposed to be held, wanting to get a status update on what they were supposed to be doing to her. Jin entered the scanning room, noting the cage where Flandre was supposed to be was empty.

"Is she in a holding cell?" asked Jin of the scientist watching over the monitor.

"Not exactly," replied the scientist.

"What do you mean 'not exactly?'" asked Jin.

"She... escaped," replied the scientist.

"She what?" asked Jin.

"Esca..."

The man was cut off when Jin blew his head off with a shot at point blank range, smearing his blood over the computer console in front of him. Jin went through the building to find the man he left in charge while he was gone. He found the person he was looking for in one of the security offices. The man was going over the footage from when Flandre was rescued.

"How can this be?" muttered the man.

"Zero-zero-eight!" shouted Jin.

"Commander Jin!" shouted the man.

"What took place here while I was away?" asked Jin, in a tone that kept his anger well hidden.

"Well... the other vampire and two of her friends came here rescue Miss Scarlet," replied the man, while pointing to the video footage retrieved from the hidden cameras.

Jin looked over the footage, noting the group of Remilia, Sakuya, and Marisa were walking through the building unopposed until Flandre made her escape. He watched the ensuing battles, watching as the girls fought their way to the portal generator and made their way in.

"You sent that many men after that weakened vampire girl, and they still failed?" asked Jin.

"I didn't send an elite unit; I felt a regular contingent would suffice. I had no idea the others were here until it was too late," replied the man.

"I see," spoke Jin, as he prepared to remove the man's head. A beeping sound got his attention first.

"It's a message from our world," replied the man.

"Patch it through to this room," replied Jin.

"Done," replied the man.

"You better hope this is good news," replied Jin.

The man started playing the message, hoping it was indeed good news.

"Attention Gensokyo Base, this is Zero-two-seven, we just returned from our patrol of the area surrounding Poro Base. The base has been completely destroyed. We were able to get some information from the black boxes. It appears a group of youkai found the base and entered it, then fought their way to the portal generator before damaging it, resulting in an overload, which destroyed the base. It appears our patrol and delta patrol are the only survivors. We'll be returning after we've sorted through the rest of the wreckage. Zero-two-seven out," came the voice of a soldier.

The soldier who with with Jin lost his head as soon as Jin heard about the base under Lake Poro being destroyed.

"_They found Poro Base too quickly. A person familiar with computers could have guessed the location, but the youkai of this world would know nothing of how to make good use of such resources. They must have had help from someone. The question now is who? The loss of Poro Base isn't a serious issue. We could always build another one once our operations here are complete. It's nothing but a minor setback. I'm sure _she_ won't care one way or the other,"_ thought Jin, as he made his way out of the room.

Jin went through the base gathering other armored men throughout the base. He brought them to one of the meeting rooms. The meeting room was finished with polished steel, and had a table made to seat twelve. Embedded in the wall behind the head of the table was a large monitor. Jin brought in eleven other men to the room, ten soldiers and one scientist.

"Good day, gentlemen," spoke Jin.

"Sir!" shouted the others in the room.

"It seems we have suffered some setbacks while I was gone. The loss of Poro Base and the girl are unfortunate, but we still have a sample from the girl, and we can easily rebuild Poro Base. This has done nothing to change our timetable," spoke Jin.

"Does this mean we are set for the next part of our plan, commander?" asked one of the soldiers.

"It does. I have assembled the army for our next mission. Zero-zero-nine, you will be second in command, since Zero-zero-eight is no longer with us. I trust you will be a more effective leader," spoke Jin.

"Sir!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

"Good, then we're set. I've gathered information on those who frequent the location of our next strike," spoke Jin, as he pointed to the monitor behind him.

The screen lit up, displaying the information of several people.

"This one here, who appears to be a child with horns, is an Oni, a being with enough power to crush a skull in her hands, should she choose to do so. She is known to be drunk constantly, but still very powerful, regarded as one of the most powerful by some of the inhabitants of this land. Unlike most here, she is more suited to close range combat," spoke Jin, as he was pointing to a picture of Suika.

"This individual is a magician ghost, considered to be one of the best magic users in the land. Though she appears to be a ghost, she can still be defeated. She, like most here, is a long range fighter, causing widespread destruction, should she will it," spoke Jin, while pointing to a picture of Mima.

"These two individuals, this turtle and maid, are considered to be of no threat. They have never fought in the battles that have taken place in this land, but caution is still advised around them," spoke Jin, while pointing to pictures of the turtle Genji and the robotic maid Rukoto.

"And now for our targets. These two individuals, Hakurei Reimu and Yakumo Yukari are not only our targets, but also pose the greatest threat. The miko, Reimu, has the power to use the Hakurei orbs, a weapon of great power. She has fought in most of the battles of this land, and has rarely been on the losing side of a contest. Then there is the youkai, Yukari. She is the most powerful youkai in this land, supposedly the one responsible for its creation. Her power to control borders makes her highly dangerous, and very elusive. In order to attempt a capture of her, we will need to plant two power absorbers on her person. They will have to placed in rapid succession; she does have the power to break them quickly on her own," explained Jin, while pointing to pictures of Reimu and Yukari.

"Do we know for sure if the border youkai will be at the shrine?" asked one of the soldiers.

"And what of her shikigami?" asked another.

"Her shikigami rarely accompany her to the shrine. If they are present, they will be weakened if Yukari herself is weakened, removing the threat they pose. As for if Yukari is present, she often keeps an eye on the shrine. If she is not present, our arrival is sure to catch her attention," replied Jin.

"How many are going to be with us?" asked one of soldiers.

"Fifty others have been prepared for this mission," replied Jin.

"Will that be enough?" asked one of the soldiers.

"If we are unable to capture the targets, samples will suffice; however, it would be best to capture the targets, as their powers will be more difficult to decipher without them," replied Jin.

"What are we to do?" asked the scientist.

"Build a profile of the vampire from the samples we collected from her and continue working with the other samples," replied Jin, "Are there any other questions?"

Silence was Jin's answer.

"Good, then we attack the Hakurei Shrine at dawn," spoke Jin.


	6. Borderline

_Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, I do not profit in any way from this work_

**Chapter 6 – Borderline**

The black of the night sky was beginning to give way to the first colors of the morning. At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu was trying to send off a certain guest who had appeared.

"Uh... Yukari, do you have any idea what time it is?" asked Reimu.

"I know, it is a little late," replied Yukari.

"Late for you, maybe, but early for the rest of rest!" shouted Reimu.

"I realize this, but you know I wouldn't be here at this time unless I had reason to," spoke Yukari.

"And that reason being?" asked Reimu.

"I felt those disturbances again," replied Yukari.

"Oh... that again," spoke Reimu, in a tone that suggested she'd had this conversation more than once.

"Have you figured out what keeps causing them yet?" asked Reimu.

"I still haven't been able to deduce that. I've had Ran check all around the border. There's no sign of anyone or anything having tried to break through the barrier, or even try to touch it. In the time since I established the border, nothing like this has ever happened," replied Yukari.

"So, nothing has even touched the barrier, and yet you continue to feel the presence of something breaking through into Gensokyo?" asked Reimu.

"And breaking out. It fails to make sense to me. I've heard some rumors about a group of people who possess technology from the outside world. I think they may be related," spoke Yukari.

"I haven't heard of any such rumors. Are you sure?" asked Reimu.

"You should leave the shrine more often. It was circulating around human village. No one I talked to knew of any details, but with these disturbances occurring, I can't simply dismiss them," replied Yukari.

"Well, if I hear anything, I'll let you know," spoke Reimu.

"You really should learn to be more in tune with the barrier. Your predecessors could sense the same disturbances I could after years of training. Something you should invest your time in," spoke Yukari.

"I have to maintain the shrine," replied Reimu.

"What about that maid?" asked Yukari.

"She does half the work; there is a lot of shrine here to keep up, you know," replied Reimu.

"I suppose so," spoke Yukari.

"Hey, Reimu, who is that?" came the voice of Suika, awoken by the sound of Reimu and Yukari's conversation.

"Oh, I see the oni is still around," spoke Yukari.

"The border lady is back again?" asked Suika.

"Yeah, more disturbances of the border, or something," spoke Reimu.

"Or something? Do you even listen when I bring up important matters?" asked Yukari.

"I do, but I don't see how these disturbances are a problem. I haven't heard of any incidents in involving them, and the border is as strong as ever. If these disturbances cause an incident or weaken the border, then I'll track down those responsible and make them fix everything," explained Reimu.

"You know, there's nothing wrong with preventing an incident _before_ it happens," spoke Yukari.

"Maybe, but it's easier to get to someone who has made themselves known," replied Reimu.

"I suppose," spoke Yukari, "Well, I guess I should..."

"Yukari? Yukari!" shouted Reimu.

Yukari stopped mid-sentence, stunned by something. She turned around to look out past the trees around the shrine.

"Yukari!" shouted Reimu.

"You felt that too, did you?" came the voice of Mima, who had materialized near the pair.

"Felt what?" asked Reimu.

"Something... unnatural," spoke Mima.

"Unnatural and large, heading this way," spoke Yukari.

"Eh?" asked Reimu.

"Look!" shouted Suika.

The group looked over the trees to see a cloud of the armored men approaching the shrine.

"Who are they?" asked Reimu.

"I think we've found the people of those rumors," spoke Yukari.

The men continued heading in the direction of the shrine. There were nearly sixty of them, led by a man wearing a color different from those of the rest.

"I don't know what you're take is, but I don't think they're coming here to make a donation," spoke Mima.

"I'll get Genji and Rukoto to a safe place. Can you three stall them?" asked Reimu.

"Stall them? Dear, I think a few people in odd outfits aren't going to be much of a bother," spoke Mima.

"I'm not so sure of that. I heard they went after a powerful youkai. If they're coming here, they believe they have a chance at doing something," replied Yukari.

"I don't suppose you know which youkai they were after?" asked Mima, "The word 'powerful' is relative, after all."

"I understand this, but a little caution never hurt anyone," replied Yukari, "Get those two to safety."

Reimu nodded and made her way to the back of the shrine, finding Rukoto cleaning the storehouse while Genji was still sleeping in his pond.

"Genji!" shouted Reimu.

"Hm? Reimu, it's a little early... what's happening?" asked Genji, noting the serious look on Reimu's face.

"There's a large group of people on their way here. I need you to take Rukoto to somewhere safe," spoke Reimu.

"I understand. Be careful, Reimu," replied Genji.

"I will," spoke Reimu, "Rukoto!"

"Yes, Reimu-san?" asked Rukoto.

"Hop on Genji and get to somewhere safe. Get out of here as fast as you can," spoke Reimu.

"Huh? Why?" asked Rukoto.

"There's dangerous people heading to the shrine. You'll be in trouble if you stay, so I need you to go to a safe place," answered Reimu.

"Will you be okay?" asked Rukoto.

"I've taken care of incidents from the fires of Hell to the heavens themselves, I'll be okay," replied Reimu.

"Okay," replied Rukoto, as she hopped on the back of Genji. Genji took off past the shrine, ducking below the hills to avoid being seen.

In front of the shrine, Yukari, Mima, and Suika were waiting for the group of armored men to show their intentions.

"It would be nice if they were just lost and in need of directions," spoke Yukari.

"It would," replied Mima.

"You think they'll put up a good fight?" asked Suika, as she took a drink from her gourd.

"I'm sure they could, if they wanted," replied Yukari.

The armored men could now see the shrine, and took a look at the three gathered to greet them.

"Commander, looks like they have the welcoming party ready," spoke Zero-zero-nine.

"I see. Hmm... well, well, well, if it isn't Yukari. That makes this easier. I see the ghost and oni are there. Hmm... odd that the shrine maiden is not present. I'm sure she'll show herself soon enough, though. Focus your attacks on Yukari. I'll hunt down the shrine maiden and grab the Hakurei orbs," spoke Jin.

"Yes, sir!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

The men continued their advance, waiting to see what the three waiting for them would do.

"We're now within firing range," spoke Zero-zero-nine.

"Fire at will!" shouted Jin, as the group of armored men prepared their shoulder cannons and broke formation.

In front of the shrine, Yukari, Mima, and Suika prepared themselves for the incoming onslaught.

"They're splitting up. That's not a good sign," spoke Yukari.

"Have a plan?" asked Mima.

"Well, I would say stay alive, but," spoke Yukari.

"Not funny," replied Mima.

"They're firing!" shouted Suika.

"So much for asking for directions," spoke Yukari.

The three girls scattered as the shots assaulted the front porch of the shrine. The massive wave of bullets tore into the ground, kicking up debris as the bullets crashed into the ground.

"Let's see if I still have the magic touch," spoke Mima, as she concentrated, bringing forth four orbs; one red, one blue, one green, and one yellow.

"Ritual Sign 'Orreries Sun!'" shouted Mima.

Each of the balls floating around her started to glow a bright blue before firing a laser into the crowd of armored men. Those in the area were quick to move, with only one being taken out from the shot. A few took minor damage from the shot, but continued their assault unfazed.

"Ho ho! So, they're not a bunch of grunts after all. That makes things all the more interesting for me!" shouted Mima, as she fired off another round of lasers. This time, the group in front of her was prepared, and able to avoid being hit, while continuing to fire off bursts of small danmaku. A couple stopped, charging up rapid fire streams of human sized bullets aimed at Mima. The magician spirit was quick to roll out of the way, while firing off smaller bursts of her own from herself and the spheres around her.

"So you have a few tricks? That's good, very good," spoke Mima.

"Here's one a friend showed to me, Love Sign 'Master Spark!'" shouted Mima, as she fired off the trademark laser Marisa used often. Another man was taken out from the blast, not able to dodge the larger laser. The men gave Mima more space than they had, not wanting to get caught up in another blast. The group of men before her all charged up rapid fire shots of human sized danmaku, many surrounding Mima while others were aimed straight for her. Mima found herself unable to avoid taking a hit this time, and ended up being knocked back as a couple of the large bullets rammed into her.

"About time you managed to do something to me!" shouted Mima, as she increased the rate of fire coming from her and her orbs. A few of the men took some glancing blows, but none of them were taken out by the smaller bursts.

"So, you're good at aerial acrobatics? Okay then, try to avoid this one! Comet 'Bursting Star!'" shouted Mima.

A bright aura started to form around Mima and her orbs, right before she flew at high speed into a crowd of the armored men. One was hit by Mima's rush, while the others were able to get out of the way. Once Mima stopped, each of the orbs around her fired out a quick barrage of half-human sized danmaku, catching another of the men off guard, while the others were able to get out of the way.

"This ghost is starting to get on my nerves!' shouted one of the men.

"Oh, I've only begun," spoke Mima, as her orbs started to spin around her at high speed. The orbs then moved away from Mima, while still spinning around a single point in formation. The spinning orbs then did a few orbits around Mima, while firing out rapid bursts of danmaku in random directions, forcing the men near her to get away from her.

"Ho, running away already?" asked Mima, as she threw the spinning orbs out, while they were still firing. The spinning orbs acted like a boomerang, going out in a loop in front of Mima before returning to her.

"_They're not trying to hard against me... hmm... shoot! Of course, they're going after Yukari!"_ thought Mima, as she tried to get closer to the area Yukari was fighting in. Mima found herself knocked back by several blasts of danmaku cutting off the path in front of her.

"I guess I'll have to fight my way through, then," spoke Mima, as she continued to fire into the group of armored men.

Suika was having her way with those in her range. Even in her drunken state, she realized this situation wasn't a game, but was trying to see it was one, anyway.

"Okay, let's see what you do with this! Will-o'-wisp 'Superdense Conflagration!'" shouted Suika, as she pounded her fist into the ground. The end result was a pair of bursts of lava rising up from the ground and into the group of armored men, taking out one of them while causing the others around her to scatter. The lava bounced around the area before cooling and falling to the ground as rocks. Suika ran to collect the rocks as they fell, throwing them back into the group of armored men, destroying the shoulder cannons of a couple of men while knocking back a few more.

Suika laughed as she started firing off bursts of danmaku into the disoriented crowd while taking drinks from her gourd at the same time.

"Is she mocking us?" asked one of the men.

"Don't underestimate her!" shouted one of the others, as Suika started firing off larger orbs of danmaku, clearing out the area around her.

"Ignis Fatuus 'Super-High Density Fire Disaster!'" shouted Suika.

Suika swung her fists toward the armored men. A sharp wind started to blow, followed by a stream of fire erupting along it. The fiery wind waved through the crowd, taking out the pair of soldiers arguing over how strong Suika was. The attack prompted the men around Suika to take the Oni more seriously, despite her apparent drunkenness.

Suika stopped her attack to roll out of the way of the attacks sent in her direction, while laughing the entire time. The men charged up a round of rapid-fire human sized bursts and let them loose upon the Oni, knocking her into the air as a few of the bullets got too close to the oni.

"Hey, that almost hurt!" shouted Suika, as she started firing off her own rapid bursts of human sized danmaku, forcing the men around her to scatter once more. The group continued to bombard Suika with as many shots as they could, making sure the oni stayed away from the area Yukari was fighting in.

Suika didn't start to catch onto the strategy, and began charging forward, prompting the men to increase the density of their shots.

Suika focused herself, forming a black sphere in her hand. The sphere grew to the half the size of Suika before she threw it into the sky. The group of men were able to avoid it, but were caught off guard when the sphere burst and created a black hole. A man too close to the void was sucked in and crushed by the forces turning within the small void of black. The others stayed clear of the void until it fully dissipated, firing off shots at Suika in their attempt to keep the Oni away from their primary targets.

Yukari could tell quickly she was the group's target, with most of the group coming after her. She gave a light chuckle at the idea as she started dodging the bullets of varying sizes thrown in her direction.

"_Such simple patterns... do they really think they can take me with numbers?"_ thought Yukari, as she continued to move around, avoiding every single shot sent in her direction.

"_I'm really not in the mood. I should be setting down to sleep right about now,"_ thought Yukari, as she prepared a spell card.

"Bounded Field 'Curse of Dreams and Reality!'" shouted Yukari.

Two large magic circles appeared in front of Yukari. Leaf-shaped bullets emerged from Yukari and the circles in a random pattern, while other streams of bullets were aimed towards the armored men.

Those fighting Yukari knew to expect strong spell cards and would more than likely be forced into a difficult battle at the onset. Only one of the men was taken down by Yukari's initial attack, while the others were quick to move out of the way. Zero-zero-nine was looking for a pattern to Yukari's attacks, waiting to hit her with power suppressors.

The group of armored men continued firing at Yukari, who dodged every single shot, not so much as even grazing a single bullet. After Yukari's first spell card was done, she prepared another to use on the group of men before her.

"Bounded Field 'Mesh of Light and Darkness!'" shouted Yukari. A series of small orbs appeared before Yukari, Each orb fired off lasers in different directions, forming walls with the power to destroy those who touched them. After the field was formed, Yukari began firing off bullets into the crowd of armored men, forcing them to move in a small space. After a few seconds, the lasers would stop, the go off in different directions, changing the layout of the field of laser formed walls. Two of the armored men were caught when the field changed for the first time, not expecting it to change as suddenly as it did. The rest learned from their mistake, making sure to keep an eye on where the lasers were going.

The armored men started charging bursts of human sized danmaku, trying to overwhelm Yukari with numbers. The elder youkai dodged through them as though it was an everyday activity for her, prompting the men to fire off more bursts.

Yukari's spell ended, resulting in a larger barrage being launched towards her. Yukari managed a smile as she formed a gap in front of her, taking in all of the danmaku aimed at her. Yukari opened a gap behind the armored men, resulting in the armored men firing on themselves, with three of them taken down before the group could respond to the change.

After the men adjusted to Yukari's gaps, Yukari brought forth another of her spell cards.

"Evil Spirits 'Xanadu of Straight and Curve!'" shouted Yukari. The youkai brought forth several crystal bullets aimed at the armored men, while human sized danmaku followed a curved path towards the armored men, along with a pair of lasers being shot out at regular intervals.

The group of armored men had no problem with dodging the crystals, but had problems with the curved path of the larger bullets. Even though the crystals and lasers followed an easy to read pattern, dodging them at the same time as the larger bullets gave the men trouble, resulting in some reducing their focus on Yukari and more on avoiding being hit. One man was not as lucky as the others, having already taken a hit from one of Yukari's previous attacks, and met his end with a collision with a large bullet. The armored men continued to focus on dodging for the duration of Yukari's spell.

After the spell ended, the group of armored men began to fire at Yukari all at once, forgetting about Yukari's gaps. Yukari opened a gap before her once again, while opening another behind the lines of armored men. The group was quicker to respond to the tactic, resulting in a few minor hits, as opposed to the destruction of one of them.

"_Those gaps... that's it! This is my chance!" _thought Zero-zero-nine.

At the back of the shrine, Reimu was keeping an eye open for any armored men coming through the back. She wanted to make sure Genji and Rukoto were clear of the area before she went to join the others at the front of the shrine.

"I hope they get out of here safely; Genji has done so much for me, helping me to learn more about my abilities and heritage. I've had Rukoto here for a while now, too. She means well, though she often falls short of her tasks. I wouldn't want to see something happen to her, either," spoke Reimu, as she continued to watch the skies behind the shrine. After a few minutes, Reimu heard an explosion coming from the front of the shrine.

"So it seems those men really do mean to bring harm to everyone. There are times when I hate my intuition being right," spoke Reimu.

"_They're clear of here now, I need to help out the others,"_ thought Reimu, as she made her way towards the front of the shrine. Reimu was interrupted by a stream of bullets sent before her path. Reimu looked up to see a man in armor with a red tint to it.

"Hakurei Reimu. You are to come with me at once," spoke Jin.

"Who are you?" asked Reimu.

"Commander Hiodoshi Jin, leader of the forces now assaulting this shrine. If you and the border youkai willingly come with us, I will call off this attack. You wouldn't want one of your friends to get hurt, now, would you?" asked Jin.

"You say that, but you would hurt my friends anyway," replied Reimu.

"I am an honest person; I would leave this place. You two are the reason I'm here, after all. I could care less about the turtle, maid, ghost, or oni," spoke Jin.

"But there's nothing in those words that say you won't come back," replied Reimu.

"Ho ho, very perceptive. I was hoping for a fight, anyway," spoke Jin, "I hope you pose more of a challenge to me than that vampire girl did!"

"Vampire girl? Remilia?" asked Reimu.

"The one known as Flandre. She was quite the challenge, but no one I couldn't handle," replied Jin.

"_Flandre? That's the youkai they were after? I don't sense he's lying, either. I hate it when Yukari is right about something,"_ thought Reimu.

"Shall we begin? I'd like to get this done with before the three up front are taken care of. It won't be as much fun once the others join in," spoke Jin.

Reimu wasted no time in summoning a quartet of the Hakurei orbs, firing right away at Jin, who was quick to move out of the way. Jin began firing off bursts of his own, starting the danmaku duel between the pair. The two exchanged fire in bursts of ofuda from Reimu and indigo orbs from Jin.

"I sure hope this isn't all you have to offer," spoke Jin.

"I promise I won't disappoint. Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal!'" shouted Reimu. The miko fired out several bursts of rainbow danmaku twice the size of a human aimed straight at Jin at high speed. The leader of the armored men was quick to move out of the path of the danmaku. After dodging through the first burst, Jin was faced with another, forcing him to continue to move. After the second burst, Jin started to move towards Reimu, running through the third barrage. Reimu was forced to back out of the way of Jin, forcing her to end the spell and change tactics.

"_He's got speed. I've never had someone rush towards me while I was using fantasy seal and not take a single hit,"_ thought Reimu, as she started firing off bursts of ofuda while the orbs fired out bullets. Reimu was attempting to get some distance between her and Jin before she pulled out her next spell card.

"Dream Sign 'Duplex Barrier!'" shouted Reimu, bringing forth a pair of barriers surrounding her and Jin, with Jin just past the edge of the second barrier. Reimu and the inner barrier began firing out ofuda. The inner barrier fired at random, while Reimu focused on aiming towards Jin. The outer barrier adjusted the direction of the ofuda fired out by Reimu and the inner barrier, making it more difficult to see for sure where the ofuda were going to go. Jin found himself dodging around the charms thrown at him, while trying to find a pattern to the attack he could exploit.

Jin continued to fire upon Reimu while dodging, forcing Reimu to move around to avoid being hit herself. Reimu was smart enough to give herself enough room within the inner barrier to avoid Jin's shots. The result was a stalemate, with neither Reimu or Jin gaining an advantage over the other.

After Reimu's spell ended, the pair began moving around each other once again, each trying to get a shot at the other. Reimu started firing her ofuda in scattering bursts, while Jin fired of quick bursts of human sized danmaku. Reimu smiled as she continued to move around. She was enjoying the duel to a point, and didn't mind continuing it, but after hearing another explosion from the front of the shrine, she knew she had to find a way to put an end to the match.

"Border World 'Hakurei Danmaku Bounded Field!'" shouted Reimu. Once again, two barriers formed, one around Reimu, while a second closed the space around Reimu and Jin. Streams of bullets in chains appeared around Reimu, while matching streams came from the outside barrier, taking up the space between the two barriers. The two chains ended at the inner barrier. Reimu began to move the chains, making it seem as though Jin was caught between the gears of a machine. Jin began to move around rapidly, trying his hardest to avoid being hit by the chains of bullets. The chains themselves were moving too fast for Jin to spend time trying to fire back at Reimu, prompting Jin to await the end of the spell. Jin lost one of his shoulder cannons to one of the chains, while another chain took out the other, both nearly taking off Jin's head. Jin put his full focus on dodging the fast moving chains after taking the hits, knowing he had to take the Miko seriously at this point. At the end of the spell, Reimu stared down Jin, knowing the man was in trouble.

"It would seem that I have won this match," spoke Reimu, "Now take your men and leave my shrine!"

"Oh, you think it's over already, do you? This was just the warm up. The real fun it about to begin," spoke Jin, as he pulled out a pair of devices that appeared to be sword handles. A pair of green beams emerged, giving Jin a pair of beam katana. Jin swung the swords in the direction of Reimu, resulting in them firing off small, green crescents. Reimu was caught off guard for a moment, but quickly moved out of the way, only losing a single strand of hair from a near miss.

"Looks like this really won't be as easy as I would have hoped," spoke Reimu, as she began her assault anew, firing off bursts of ofuda that went off in the direction of her opponent on their own.

Jin began to move again, weaving through some of the bursts, while completely avoiding the others. Jin took every chance he was given to fire off crescent shots in the direction of Reimu.

Reimu was pondering what her next spell should be, rolling through the stronger spells she knew. Once she decided, she pulled out the card from her dress.

"Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal Blink!'" shouted Reimu. Reimu fired out a quick burst of human sized danmaku, followed by a massive burst of ofuda traveling at a slower speed. Reimu continued to fire the rapid bursts of human sized danmaku until the ofuda were close to Jin, prompting another burst of them. Jin found the combination of speeds to be disorienting to deal with, noting it made it more difficult to find a pattern. Jin continued with the sword bursts, while doing his best to evade the shots sent out in his direction. As Jin moved, Reimu increased the speed of both of the bursts, while keeping the speeds of the two types different enough to continue to give Jin problems. Jin finally made a mistake, resulting in an ofuda knocking his swords from his hands while a large danmaku knocked him into the ground. His swords were destroyed by the next barrage, once again appearing to disarm Jin. Jin kept moving until the spell ended, stopping at the end. Reimu landed on the ground, while Jin held his hand up.

"Give it up," spoke Reimu.

"Alright, alright, you got me. Looks like this is over," spoke Jin.

"Leave my shrine, and never return!" shouted Reimu.

"Sure, I'll do that... if you can find a way to get out of this!" shouted Jin, as he appeared to activate something, the screen in front of his eyes glowing red with new information.

Reimu was trying to figure out what was going on, until she noticed twelve objects appear to jump out of ground, and surround her with a rapid burst of danmaku twice the size of a human. Reimu couldn't move out of the way in time, finding herself knocked back by the hits she took. As Reimu tried to get to her feet and fight back, Jin fired a laser from a device on the back of his armor's hand, creating an explosion that knocked Reimu back down, in time to be hit with another burst of danmaku from the twelve drones. Reimu appeared to be down, but Jin remained cautious, sending his drones to get close to Reimu and fire off another barrage.

Right after the drones finished charging, Reimu jumped back up, smashing one of the drones with her gohei, while ducking through the remaining barrage. Jin fired off another round of lasers, but Reimu kicked off of the ground and began to fly again, while firing off rapid bursts of ofuda. Jin had no choice but to jump back, trying to split his focus between dodging Reimu's attacks and controlling his drones.

Reimu smashed another pair of drones, while the others continued to fire at Reimu, now using rapid bursts of small danmaku rather than trying to charge up bursts to overwhelm Reimu. The drones were unable to keep up with Reimu while Jin was dodging Reimu's attacks, allowing Reimu to destroy them one by one.

After Reimu destroyed the last pair of drones, Jin fired out a massive pair of lasers, each the size of Marisa's Master Spark, in the direction of Reimu. The miko headed to the skies, firing off another mass burst of ofuda in the direction of Jin. Due to the force needed to displace the recoil from the lasers, Jin became a sitting duck, resulting in both of his hand lasers being destroyed. Reimu launched one more burst of danmaku and ofuda, knocking Jin into the air, and forcing him to land on his back. Reimu landed again, giving Jin an angry glare.

"You don't know when to give up, do you?" asked Reimu.

"What are you! You're no ordinary miko!" shouted Jin.

"I just solve the incidents that take place in this land. After dealing with as many as I have, I guess I got a little better with danmaku. Now then, accept your defeat and leave!" shouted Reimu.

"Alright, alright!" shouted Jin, as he was slow to get back to his feet. He started to lift himself off of the ground, starting to head off, before quickly turning around.

"Die!" shouted Jin, as he activated one last trap he had set. The ground in the area of the battle became electrified, shocking Reimu, causing her to scream out in pain as the current ran through her body. After the current stopped, an explosion erupted from the ground under and around Reimu, knocking her into the air. Jin activated a pair of lasers from his shoulders, firing them at Reimu, and knocking her into a tree. Jin fired on last burst as Reimu hit the ground, knocking Reimu's gohei from her hands as her body was thrown rolling on the ground. After the explosions died down, Reimu's body lay unconscious. Reimu's dress was torn and dirtied, while blood dripped out of the numerous cuts and scrapes Reimu gained after Jin's final assault.

"_She forced me to use my trump card. I should consider myself lucky she was on the ground at that moment, or it would have never worked,"_ thought Jin, as he went to pick up Reimu's body.

"_At least it's done. I've successfully captured Hakurei Reimu,"_ thought Jin.

The fight in the front of the shrine appeared to be going in the favor of Yukari, Suika, and Mima. Though the three were still being kept separate, each were able to take care of the threats aimed at them.

"Out of my way!" shouted Suika, as she smashed one of the armored men who grew too close to her, sending the man crashing into the ground.

"Clear the path!" shouted Mima, as she fired off a shot in the face of one of the armored men, blowing the man away.

The men around Suika and Mima increased their rate of fire further, not allowing the pair to gain anymore ground.

Even though the pair was trying to gain ground to help out Yukari, the youkai of boundaries was showing she didn't need any help, opening up another gap to swallow up the shots aimed at her and return the danmaku to those who shot it.

"Try this!" shouted Zero-zero-nine, shooting out a small, black danmaku. Yukari moved her gap to intercept it, laughing at the idea of a man trying to use a single bullet to get the best of her. Yukari didn't expect the bullet to collapse the gap and hit her, knocking her back while the other bursts from the armored men before her knocked her further back. Yukari was quick to get out of the way, but found herself slightly disoriented.

"_What in the world!" _thought Yukari, as she got herself adjusted. Yukari quickly noted there was a black box left on her person where the dark bullet struck, and that it was interrupting her use of her abilities. Yukari tried to remove it, finally getting it off with the force of her remaining power. Yukari felt her abilities return to normal at the removal of the bullet, noting to avoid any other dark danmaku, as well as to cease using her gaps.

"_So, they were right, it will take more than one power suppressor to stop her,"_ thought Zero-zero-nine, as he made his way out of the path of danmaku sent at him to get even for the shot. Zero-zero-nine was nearly hit, a bullet putting a scratch on his helmet as he continued to move out of the way.

"_Guess it's about time to use _it_,"_ thought Zero-zero-nine, as he joined the formation of the other armored men in his group.

"It's time!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

The morning of the Forest of Magic was peaceful, much as it always was. With the youkai of the night going to rest, the forest quieted down. Marisa was just waking, eating a muffin she had taken Tsubura Market while dressing out of her pajamas and switching to her usual black dress with a white apron.

"Not bad, I'll have to asked Seigai if he knows how to make these," spoke Marisa, as she waded through her mess of a house in search of the door.

"Well, now that I've had a chance to rest, I should go see what Reimu is up to. She'll never believe that I was in another world. She'll have to believe me when I show her this though," spoke Marisa while pulling out Seigai's wallet. She had managed to get it from him while he had his mind focused on finding where the facility of his world was located.

Marisa smiled as she pulled out her broom and took to the skies, looking out towards the sun that was greeting her on her morning trip. Marisa took off in the direction of the shrine, looking forward to a little tea to start her morning. The witch paused when she saw smoke rising from the shrine.

"_Why does that give me a bad feeling?"_ thought Marisa, as she continued on. It was then that she saw a massive group of armored men attacking the shrine.

"_You've got to be kidding! There are that many! This isn't good, I have to get some people here quick, or Reimu's going to be in serious trouble!"_ thought Marisa. She realized the best people to get would be the ones who had dealt with the armored men before.

"_I don't like the idea of asking _her _for a favor, but I can't take down that many of those armored people by myself. I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy!" _thought Marisa, as she raced towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Over Misty Lake, Marisa ran into a beat up Cirno and Dai, apparently racing towards the mansion as well.

"What happened to you two?" asked Marisa.

"Those armored people appeared again out of the lake!" shouted Cirno.

Cirno explained to Marisa what had taken place earlier that morning. Cirno had told Dai about her trip to Seigai's world and the incident with the armored men. Dai was skeptical, knowing Cirno often mixed up or left out the details of the incidents she was involved in. Cirno wanted to prove the point to Dai, so she took the green haired fairy to where the entrance to the underground base was. The pair staked out the entrance, Cirno refusing to leave until she could show her friend proof of her story. The pair waited all night, even sleeping on a bed made of ice while staking out the place. That morning, just as the sun began to paint the sky with the colors of the morning, the entry chamber arose from the water. Cirno knew what it meant, and used Freeze Sign "Minus K" to surprise the men before they came out. Cirno managed to get three of the armored men, resulting in a group of them breaking off to attack Cirno and Dai. The group sent after them were stronger than those on the patrols from before, resulting in Cirno and Dai being cornered. The pair tried to fight off the group of fifteen sent after them, but to no effect, resulting in both of them being shot down before the group returned to join the others. Cirno and Dai has recently reformed and were one their way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to tell Sakuya and the others what was going on. Cirno was shocked to hear the group had gone to attack Reimu's shrine.

"Reimu's a comrade, too! We can't let those people hurt her!" shouted Cirno.

"I know, that's why we're going here to get some help, ze," replied Marisa.

"Do you think they'll help us?" asked Dai.

"Only one way to know," replied Marisa, as the trio bolted for the mansion.

At the mansion, Meiling had her eyes looking in the direction of the armored men's base. Meiling took the situation seriously, not falling asleep while on duty once since the incident began. When Meiling saw three people heading for the mansion at high speed, she pulled out a spell card, not even wasting time on questions. As Meiling was about to attack, she saw it was Marisa and a pair of ice fairies.

"Marisa!" shouted Meiling.

"Not now, China!" shouted Marisa, as she bolted past the gate guard, and continued through to the mansion, running through the door of the manor.

"You know, if you want to raid Patchy's library, you should at least wait until we're asleep," spoke Remilia. Remilia, Flandre, and Sakuya were passing through the foyer as Marisa entered, greeting Marisa as she made her rushed entry into the mansion.

"Raid? It's borrowing!" shouted Marisa, as Cirno pounded Marisa on the head.

"Reimu is in trouble!" shouted Cirno.

"I'm sure she is," replied Remilia in a sarcastic tone.

"It's those armored men. A whole bunch of them are attacking the shrine," spoke Marisa.

"What?" asked Remilia.

"How many are there?" asked Sakuya.

"I don't know. Just a lot of them, more than before," answered Marisa.

"I see," spoke Remilia.

"We're going to help Red-white nee, right?" asked Flandre.

"Well... having that miko owe me a favor might come in handy later," spoke Remilia, "We better do this quick. I want to get this over with before the sun fully rises."

"What about Seigai?" asked Marisa, "Do you think he'll be able to help."

"I will go see," spoke Sakuya, as she disappeared.

Sakuya reappeared in the library, watching as Patchouli continued the spell.

"Lady Patchouli, do you know how much longer this spell will take?" asked Sakuya.

"I can't say for sure. It could be done in a few minutes or a few hours. There really is no way to tell until it is finished. I will let Remilia and Flandre know as soon as it's finished, if they want to see him," replied Patchouli.

"That's not the problem; those people are attacking the shrine," spoke Sakuya.

"What?" asked Patchouli.

"We're going to go and try to help out. If Seigai is able to, tell him to help as well. We'll leave Meiling here, just in case," spoke Sakuya.

"I see. We will join you as soon as we can," replied Patchouli.

Sakuya returned to the foyer to deliver word of Patchouli's status.

"I see. Then it can't be helped. Let's go," spoke Remilia.

The group of Remilia, Flandre, Sakuya, Marisa, Cirno, and Dai made their way out of the mansion and towards the shrine. Sakuya paused only to fill in Meiling on what was happening before rejoining the group.

"Now they're going after Reimu... what do these people want?" muttered Meiling to herself, as she continued to keep an eye to the sky.

At the shrine, Suika, Yukari, and Mima were doing their best to keep the armored men at bay. They group had entered a stalemate, with neither side gaining any ground against the other.

"_Where is Reimu? It can't take this long to take care of a turtle and maid,"_ thought Yukari, until she realized the man with the different colored armor was missing.

"_I see, that one must be going after Reimu. To keep her occupied for this long must mean that one is much more skilled than the others,"_ thought Yukari, as she dodged another dark bullet.

"It's time, spring the trap!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

The other soldiers moved back away from the group of magic users. As they did, the ground around the three began to glow.

"_When did they!"_ thought Yukari.

"_How did they!" _thought Mima.

"_What's going on!"_ thought Suika.

A massive, dense barrage of danmaku twice the size of a human erupted from the ground, striking the group of three hard, leaving them little room to dodge. All three were hit hard, knocking them back on their rears. The group of armored men fired another barrage, having prepared one while the underground barrage was unleashed, further injuring the group of three. Suika was sent crashing into a tree, knocking it down as she struck it. Mima was sent crashing hard onto the ground. Yukari was sent crashing through the donation box and through the shrine's entrance.

"Kill the oni and destroy the ghost! I'll take care of finishing that youkai!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

Remilia's group continued to make their best speed for the shrine. As they continued, they ran into two figures heading in the same direction.

"Ran! Chen!" shouted Marisa.

The pair of Chen and Ran Yakumo were also heading for the shrine, prompting the others to join with them.

"Why are you two heading for the shrine?" asked Sakuya.

"I had a bad feeling about Lady Yukari," replied Ran.

"A bad feeling?" asked Marisa.

"She's been talking about this series of disturbances she's felt in the border. She's went to see Reimu about the disturbances she felt a couple days ago," replied Ran.

"A couple of days ago?" asked Marisa.

"That was when we returned to this world. It's likely those portals the armored men created are responsible for the disturbances Yukari has been feeling," spoke Sakuya.

"Armored men?" asked Ran. At that moment, Ran lost her concentration and started to fall, followed by Chen. The pair were able to recollect themselves before falling too low, returning to where they were before.

"What was that all about?" asked Remilia.

"Not good, not good at all," spoke Ran.

"What's not good?" asked Flandre.

"Lady Yukari is in trouble. Her connection to me was disrupted abruptly," answered Ran.

"I hope Lady Yukari is okay," spoke Chen.

"If they're giving someone of her caliber problems, that can't be good," spoke Marisa.

"Acknowledging someone who is stronger than you?" asked Remilia.

"I'm not saying that, just that she's powerful, and all," replied Marisa.

"Yeah! After all, I'm the strongest!" shouted Cirno.

"Sure you are," spoke Remilia.

"I can see the shrine up ahead... oh my..." spoke Ran.

There was a lot of smoke coming from the shrine now. The group could see the armored men firing into the shrine, causing further damage to the area.

"Doesn't seem like there are too many of them," spoke Sakuya.

"Guess Reimu has been giving them trouble," replied Marisa.

"I say we give them some more trouble!" shouted Remilia, as she already started preparing to attack.

"We have the element of surprise on our side," spoke Sakuya.

"Hit them hard and fast, ze!" shouted Marisa, as she started to charge into the battle scene.

"Yeah!" shouted Cirno, as she joined Marisa in charging forward.

"Don't just rush in like that!" shouted Dai, as she chased after Cirno.

"Let's have fun!" shouted Flandre.

"Do be careful, mistress," spoke Sakuya.

"Let's go save Lady Yukari!" shouted Chen.

"Don't be so rash!" shouted Ran.

The group came in firing danmaku of all kinds, ranging from small spheres and knives to danmaku twice the size of a human. The armored men were too busy focusing on finishing off Mima, Suika, and Yukari to notice, until the shots came raining down. Several of the armored men were hit, many of them were taken out of the battle, leaving around thirty left after the attack.

"Reinforcements!" shouted one of the armored men before being taken down.

"So, the commander was right again," spoke Zero-zero-nine, as he got out of the way of a spear made of danmaku. The man next to him was not as lucky, being taken down by the weapon.

Ran and Chen ran through the opening made by their initial strike, finding Yukari picking herself up in the shrine.

"Lady Yukari! Are you okay?" asked Ran.

"Ran? What are you doing here, I asked you to look after the village," spoke Yukari.

"I know, but I didn't like the feeling I was getting. Looks like I was right," replied Ran.

"I'd discipline you if you weren't," replied Yukari.

"Looks like we got here just in time," spoke Chen.

"So it would seem," replied Yukari.

"Yes, and from what the others have told me, it would seem these people are the ones responsible for the disturbances you've been feeling," spoke Ran.

"I thought as much after seeing them. I wish I knew where they came from, though," spoke Yukari.

"What do you mean?" asked Ran.

"I've never seen any technology like that before on my trips to the outside world," replied Yukari.

"That is unusual," replied Ran.

"Well, I we can speculate later. Right now, we should finish cleaning up this mess," spoke Yukari.

"Agreed," spoke Ran.

As Marisa entered the battle, she caught sight of Mima, and went to see how her former master was doing.

"Lady Mima!" shouted Marisa.

"Lady? Marisa?" asked Mima, as she gathered herself back up.

"You look like a mess, ze," spoke Marisa.

"It happens to the best of us," replied Mima.

"At least you're alright," spoke Marisa.

"It's not like they can kill me," replied Mima.

"I know, I know," spoke Marisa.

Sakuya found Suika lying near where she was fighting. Sakuya threw out a series of knives to drive the men around the oni away, then flew down to see if the oni was okay.

"Suika, are you alright?" asked Sakuya.

"I feel sober," replied Suika.

"I'll take that for a yes," spoke Sakuya.

"Where's Reimu?" asked Suika.

"I'd like to know that myself," spoke Sakuya.

At the back of the shrine, Jin was collecting the yin-yang orbs, as well as getting a sample of Reimu's blood with one of the hollow-handled swords.

"Just in case you manage to get away," muttered Jin, as he gathered some of Reimu's blood. Jin could feel the ground shaking slightly from a mass series of impacts.

"_It would seem they used a trap they had,"_ thought Jin of the rest of his man, _"Good, this means that they will have that border youkai soon."_

Jin picked up Reimu, and prepared to carry her back to their base. Before Jin could get anywhere, he picked up on a second explosion taking place.

"_That one felt different from the other one. I know I didn't bring enough drones for them to make a second strike," _thought Jin, as he slowly approached the front of the shrine. Jin peaked around the corner of a wall to see Remilia's group fighting back.

"_Well, well, well, if it isn't the vampires and their friends. Good, that will make things easier for me," _thought Jin.

"Is that all you got!" shouted Remilia, as she dodged through the barrage the group of men at the center of the formation.

"Not at all, little girl, not at all. I was hoping you and your friends would show up. We wanted to teach you a lesson about why you shouldn't oppose us," spoke Zero-zero-nine.

"Like I care!" shouted Remilia, as she sent another burst of Scarlet danmaku towards Zero-zero-zine, prompting the man to move out of the way.

"It's time! Ambush!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

At that moment, another fifty armored men appeared from the surrounding area, announcing their presence with a mass barrage of human-sized danmaku. No one had time to dodge the incoming barrage, forcing everyone back as a result.

"Capture the jewel-winged vampire, along with the border youkai. Kill the rest!" shouted Zero-zero-nine, as everyone was forced back.

"This is nuts!" shouted Marisa, as an group of bullets crashed into the ground before her and Mima, knocking the pair back.

"I thought this situation was bad enough," spoke Mima.

Sakuya used her powers to attempt to surprise the armored men with a quick barrage of knives. When Sakuya resumed time around her, she was surprised to see the men anticipate the move and get themselves out of the way of Sakuya's blades, not even receiving a scratch. The group unleashed a quick barrage, knocking back Sakuya and Suika.

"Ow ow..." muttered Suika.

"_These men are much stronger than the others,"_ thought Sakuya, as she continued to throw knives into the group, hoping to catch them off guard. Sakuya attempted to use one of her spell cards, but was forced to move out of the way of another barrage before she could get the spell off.

The front steps of the shrine exploded as Yukari, Ran, and Chen were knocked away by a massive barrage of danmaku. Cirno and Dai were knocked down onto the ground near them.

"Not fair..." muttered Cirno, who took a heavy blow to the head. The ice fairy was having trouble getting herself back up.

"Cirno!" shouted Dai.

"Are you okay, Chen!" shouted Ran, noting her shikigami was having trouble getting up. Chen had been hit on the head by a board when the stairs were destroyed. A small trickle of blood went down Chen face from where the board had scratched her.

"That hurt," spoke Chen.

"Lady Yukari, perhaps we should get everyone to safety?" asked Ran.

"I can't; they have some kind device that can forcibly close any gaps I make," spoke Yukari.

"Is that possible!" shouted Ran, as the Yakumo family was forced to dodge through another barrage.

"I can't deny what I have witnessed first hand!" shouted Yukari.

"I have you now!" shouted Zero-zero-nine. The man had gotten behind Yukari during the last barrage. Yukari didn't have time to move, and tried to open a gap to evade in. A small cluster of black danmaku closed her gap, forcing her to evade at point blank, resulting in two of the devices getting stuck to her. Yukari shouted out at the pain of having her abilities forcibly suppressed, followed by Ran and Chen falling down from the shock of having their connection disrupted. The armored men fired at the pair of shikigami, knocking them away from Yukari.

Flandre and Remilia were forced down to the ground, finding the sky quickly filled with bullets. The pair were knocked back when one of the drones planted in the ground before them was detonated, separating the two. A quick barrage knocked Remilia back away from Flandre, allowing the men to focus on the younger vampire. Flandre tried to "kyuu" one of the men in front of her, but she was hit from behind before she could get him, resulting in Flandre accidentally destroying a tree. The men were quick to surround Flandre, preparing to slap a pair of suppressors on her, as well.

"_This battle is our victory,"_ thought Jin, as he emerged from behind the shrine with Reimu slung over his shoulder, preparing to make his exit while his men finished off the others.

The number of men made it impossible for the others to have time to activate spell cards. Even Sakuya with her time manipulation could not activate one of her spells while being forced to dodge through the thick barrage of danmaku.

"Mistress!" shouted Sakuya, as she saw Flandre and Remilia go down. A blast from another detonated drone knocked Sakuya into the air, before a few stray bullets knocked her back onto the ground.

"_This isn't happening... I'm going to lose Flandre again..."_ thought Remilia, as she struggled to pick herself back up, only to find herself forced further back from her sister.

"Five Elements Sign 'Philospher's Stone!'" came a voice from the sky. A group of five books appeared in the direction the voice came from, each corresponding to one of the five elements of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth. They each began firing a mass barrage down upon the armored men.

"Colorful Sign 'Extreme Color Typhoon!'" came a second voice from the sky. A mass barrage of rainbow danmaku flying in all different directions was sent into the herd of armored men.

"Wolf Sign 'Rain of Fangs!'" came a third voice from the sky. Bursts of danmaku shaped like fangs were sent in the direction of the armored men.

The armored men were focused on making sure those before them wouldn't be given the chance to fight back. They didn't anticipate a third group to arrive, and didn't have time to react to the new attacks. The mass barrage of danmaku took out twenty of the armored men before they could react. They were forced to scatter away from their targets, allowing everyone on the shrine grounds a chance to regain their footing.

"More reinforcements!" shouted Zero-zero-nine, as he was forced away from Yukari.

The armored men looked to the sky to see the newcomers. Patchouli was the first to attack, followed by Meiling. The third was a man, with long, white hair down his entire back, and a bushy white tail down to his knees, with wolf ears, tanned skin, and red eyes. He was holding a large sword of what appeared to be ivory with a black handle and white tuft of fur trailing from the bottom of the handle. The man's one identifying feature was his outsider clothes; blue bandanna, blue shirt, and black jeans.

"It's Patchouli and Meiling... and... Seigai!" shouted Flandre.

"We can ask later! I'm not letting those people regather!" shouted Remilia, as she prepared a spell card, prompting Flandre to do the same.

"Scarlet Sign 'Scarlet Meister!'" shouted Remilia. Remilia fired massive bursts of scarlet, human sized danmaku, leaving behind trails of smaller scarlet danmaku in their way.

"Forbidden Barrage 'Catadioptric!'" shouted Flandre. Flandre fired off bursts of indigo, human sized danmaku, bouncing off of everything they hit, and leaving behind smaller indigo danmaku in their wake.

The armored men near Flandre and Remilia found themselves trying to avoid massive bursts of danmaku from two points. Flandre managed to take out two of the armored men with her first burst, causing her bullets to bounce off of their targets, making it harder to anticipate the path they would travel, resulting in one of the men near the first also being taken out. One armored man was hit by Remilia's attacks while focusing too hard on avoiding Flandre's.

"Now's our chance, Chen!" shouted Ran, recovering with the window opened by the arrival of the three above. The pair of Shikigami ran to defend Yukari, each pulling out spell cards.

"Right! Oni Sign 'Blue Oni Red Oni!'" shouted Chen. Dual bursts came from Chen, one consisting of blue danmaku, the other red. Both bursts consisting of human sized danmaku among a barrage of small danmaku.

"Illusion God 'Descent of Izuna Gongen!'" shouted Ran. A massive barrage of danmaku of all sizes and colors erupted from Ran, with the smaller bullets going straight while the larger bullets followed a curving pattern.

Chen's attack alone could easily be handled by the armored men, but having to deal with it at the same time as Ran's attack resulted in two armored men being taken out by Chen's attacks. One of the armored men took a hit to one of his foot jets from Ran's attacks, resulting in him being propelled towards another pair of armored men, forcing them to move out of the way of their comrade turned projectile. The pair ran into danmaku from Ran, not seeing the massive red danmaku until it was too late to move out of their path.

"Hey, Lady Mima, wanna clear the path?" asked Marisa, while pulling out her Mini-hakkero.

"I just want to get them out of my sight!" shouted Mima, while placing her hands next to the Mini-hakkero and opening her palms.

"Magicannon 'Double Final Master Spark!'" shouted Mima and Marisa.

A massive laser with a spread that could encompass the entire Scarlet Devil Mansion flew out from the pair of Marisa and Mima. By the time the armored men in the area noticed what was happening, it was too late for any of them to get out of they way, resulting in ten of the armored men being wiped out from the blast.

"Hey, that looks like fun!" shouted Suika.

"How can you still think of this as a game?" asked Sakuya, as she pulled out a spell card.

"Because it is!" shouted Suika, while pulling out a spell card of her own.

"Maid Secret Skill 'Killing Doll!'" shouted Sakuya. Sakuya froze time, setting up a massive barrage of daggers flying in random directions before releasing time, while simultaneously firing a second, mass barrage of daggers. The armored men before Sakuya felt they could just observe the paths of the knives and avoid them. As the armored men started to move, Sakuya froze time again, and threw out more knives, with some hitting those she had already placed. When Sakuya released time, the knives changed direction, catching the armored men off guard and taking out three of them.

"Oni Sign 'Missing Power!'" shouted Suika. Suika starting firing off waves of bullets, alternating small and human sized bullets, while growing to be the size of the shrine behind her. The armored men were too busy avoiding danmaku to see Suika swat at them. The oni took down five of the armored men, treating them as though they were flies.

"_This can't be! I anticipated those two would remain at the mansion! And who is that other youkai, and why is he dressed like that... unless..." _thought Jin, as he attempted to analyze the male youkai.

"_The image information doesn't match, but the energy pattern is very close to that of the youkai found in our world. How is this possible? I made sure all the youkai in our world were dead! Wait... that face... where do I know that face from?"_ thought Jin, as he looked out behind him. Jin turned forward to see another ten of his men had been taken down by the combined force of the beings gathered at the shrine.

"_Looks like I won't be able to capture that border youkai, but I can get a sample. Those shikigami aren't looking behind them,"_ thought Jin, as he made his way through the rear entrance of the shrine. Yukari was still on the ground, having trouble standing up with the pair of suppressors draining her power. Jin pulled out one of his swords with a hollow handle, and struck out towards Yukari. The border youkai attempted to knock the weapon away and fire off danmaku. A couple of bullets were fired out, though Yukari's hand was cut open. Jin couldn't avoid a shot a point blank, resulting in the last functioning weapons on his armored outfit being damaged.

"I may be weakened, but I can still fight," spoke Yukari, as she finally got herself back up.

"_Time to go," _thought Jin, as he made his way back out the rear of the shrine, collecting Reimu's body on the way.

Yukari tried to fly after Jin, but found herself unable to.

"He's taking Reimu!" shouted Yukari.

"Our hands are full right now, Lady Yukari!" shouted Ran, as she avoided a stream of bullets from one of the remaining armored men. She managed to take the man out, but was still under fire, as was Chen.

In the sky, Patchouli, Meiling, and the male youkai were still fighting off the armored men around them. The group saw the skirmish within the shrine, looking to see if any armored men had made their way in. They saw Jin flying out the back of the shrine with Reimu in tow.

"He's got Reimu!" shouted Meiling.

The group tried to move, but found themselves cut off by a wave of danmaku.

"Alright then, try this one! Spirit Sign 'Transmission!'" shouted the male youkai, as he threw his sword at high speed. It took out three of the armored men as it sped towards Jin.

Jin could see the weapon heading towards him, and easily avoided it, expecting to see it curve towards him rather than just simply fly straight.

"_Is that all they can do to get me? Pathetic!"_ thought Jin, as he continued on, believing himself to be clear of the shrine.

"Got you!" shouted the male youkai, before he disappeared. He reappeared at the location of his sword, right in front of Jin. The youkai swung his sword, bringing forth a small barrage of fang danmaku. Jin took another hit to his shoulder, causing him to drop Reimu.

"Crap!" shouted the youkai, as he was forced to go after Reimu, rather than continue to deal with Jin. Jin, knowing he had no weapons left to fight with, made his escape, not wanting to take the risk of being shot down.

"Taboo 'Lävatein!'" shouted Flandre, before she swung her huge sword of fire. Three more of the armored men were taken down, while one more was taken out by the danmaku left behind.

"Scarlet Sign 'Scarlet Shoot!'" shouted Remilia, firing off bursts of human sized scarlet danmaku, which left behind smaller scarlet danmaku in their path. The last few armored men in front of Remilia and Flandre were too busy looking out for Flandre's attacks, resulting in their being taken down.

"Shikigami's Radiance 'Fox-Tanuki Youkai Laser!'" shouted Ran. The mesh of lasers appeared in the space before Ran, Chen, and Yukari, restricting the space the armored men before them had to move. Ran aimed a burst of indigo danmaku of all sizes in a space holding two armored men. The pair didn't have enough room to evade, resulting in both of them being taken down.

"Direction Sign 'Kimontonkou!'" shouted Chen. A massive barrage of small danmaku shaped like claws raced towards the remaining armored men, who were simultaneously trapped by Ran's spell. Three more armored men were taken out by Chen's attack, while another three were taken down by Ran's attacks.

Marisa and Mima charged towards the last two armored men in front of them, taking them out with a pair of Master Sparks, while Sakuya used Time Sign "Private Vision" to take out the last armored man in front of her.

Zero-zero-nine was the last man standing. He knew he had no chance to win, and took off running.

"Get back here! Drunken Dream 'Art of Gaki Binding!'" shouted Suika, as she created a chain of fire and used it to stop Zero-zero-nine from making his escape.

"_This can't be happening! This was the perfect plan! How could it have failed!"_ thought Zero-zero-nine.

"It's finally over," spoke Marisa, looking around the shrine. Most of the tiles on the ground were cracked or destroyed. The shrine itself was damaged from several stray bullets striking it. The donation box was smashed when Yukari was thrown through it earlier

"Who were those people?" asked Mima.

"Eh, long story," spoke Marisa.

"One I would like to hear," replied Mima.

"Are you okay, Remi?" asked Patchouli, as she descended next to Remilia, along with Meiling.

"I've been through worse, I suppose," replied Remilia.

"That was fun! Scary, but fun!" shouted Flandre.

"It would seem the younger mistress is just fine," spoke Sakuya, as she approached the group. Suika was behind her, carrying Zero-zero-nine.

"I take it that guy you brought with you was indeed Seigai?" asked Remilia.

"It was. Seems the spell finished just in time," replied Patchouli.

"Where did he go?" asked Flandre.

"Someone was trying to take Reimu. He want after him," replied Meiling.

"I wonder if he got him?" asked Flandre.

Behind the shrine, Seigai was setting down, with Reimu over his shoulder.

"I bet that guy dropped her on purpose, knowing I would have to save her from falling," muttered Seigai, as he landed. Seigai walked towards the shrine, looking to see if everyone else was okay. Yukari was standing there, looking towards him.

"_Ah, so that one rescued her. That's good... wait... that face... it can't be,"_ thought Yukari, as Seigai came into her view. Yukari paled, as did Ran when she saw Seigai, while Chen was confused at the expressions of her masters.

"Are you okay?" asked Seigai.

"Die!" shouted Yukari and Ran, as they started firing danmaku at Seigai.


	7. Secrets

_Disclaimer: Touhou is Property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 7 – Secrets**

"Die!" shouted Yukari and Ran, before firing a mass barrage of danmaku at Seigai. Seigai was careful to avoid the danmaku, while making sure Reimu wasn't hit at the same time.

"Stop! Stop! I'm not with them!" shouted Seigai.

Yukari suddenly fell, exhausted from fighting against the power suppressors still attached to her person. Ran ceased her barrage out of concern for her master.

"Why did you do that!" shouted Chen, "He helped us!"

"I guess it's my clothes?" asked Seigai, as he approached. Ran stood in front of Yukari, acting as though she needed to protect Yukari from Seigai.

"Easy, easy, I need somewhere to set Reimu. Looks like she took quite a beating," spoke Seigai, while pointing out the various cuts, scrapes, and bruises over Reimu's body.

"What happened to her?" asked Ran, as she and Seigai gently laid out Reimu.

"I guess that guy with the red armor did this to her. That guy must be something else to do this to her, from what I hear of Reimu's reputation, she's not one to be beaten easily," replied Seigai.

"Hey!" shouted Flandre, as she entered the shrine, along with everyone else gathered, including Zero-zero-nine and four other armored men who had managed to survive. Suika had them bound while Ran and Yukari were attacking Seigai.

"Was there someone else here? I heard someone telling someone else to die," spoke Marisa.

"I think these two thought I was one of them," spoke Seigai.

"Who are you?" asked Marisa.

"Oh, right. Uh, doesn't this outfit look a little familiar?" asked Seigai.

"Hm? Seigai? Is that you?" asked Marisa.

"Well, yes and no. As I said before, Seigai isn't really my name. It was the name given to my human vessel. Might as well just call me Genichiro now," replied Seigai.

"Okay, Gen-kun!" shouted Flandre.

"Gen-kun?" asked Marisa.

Genichiro chuckled lightly. Ran paled at hearing his name, but did her best not to show it.

"_Human vessel? Seigai? What is up with this guy? And why does he look like _him_?"_ thought Ran.

"_Is this just a coincidence? Does it end with appearances? I'll have to ask about his history later,"_ thought Yukari.

"What happened to Red-white nee?" asked Flandre.

"Seems like she was beaten up by one of those guys," spoke Marisa.

"The one with the red armor did this," spoke Yukari.

"Lady Yukari, are you okay?" asked Sakuya, noting Yukari's weakened condition.

"I've been better," replied Yukari.

"Looks like you were tagged with a couple of those power suppressors. It's amazing you were able to use danmaku at all with two of those things stuck to you. You must really be something else," spoke Genichiro.

"Not as great as she is old, ze," spoke Marisa.

Yukari scowled at the comment, but let it go, not feeling up to teaching the witch a lesson at the moment.

"I guess we should get those off of you," spoke Genichiro, as me moved towards Yukari. Ran stepped in front of him again.

"Eh?" asked Genichiro.

"It's okay, I don't think he's going to hurt me. Don't mind her, she's just a little protective, that's all," replied Yukari.

"Oh, well nothing wrong with that," spoke Genichiro, as he looked over Yukari. One on the power suppressors was on her right shoulder, while another was over her left breast.

"Oh my... well... I'm sure you'll understand if I only disable this one," spoke Genichiro, as he placed both of his hands over top the suppressor on Yukari's shoulder. Genichiro quickly overloaded it before pulling the small, black device off of Yukari.

"Thank you; I'll take care of the other one," spoke Yukari, as she overloaded the second suppressor. Yukari then had a look over Reimu.

"My my, my little miko has surely seen better days," spoke Yukari, as she focused over Reimu. At that moment, a gap appeared at Reimu's head, and went down over her body. As it passed over Reimu, her body was instantly healed.

"Amazing!" shouted Flandre.

"How did you do that!" shouted Marisa.

"I just manipulated the border between the injured state and healed state. Nothing too big or special," replied Yukari.

"Okay then..." spoke Marisa, still surprised at the spell.

"She'll be out for a little while, and might wake with a headache, but she'll be fine. Now then, will someone care to explain everything that is going on?" asked Yukari.

The group from the Scarlet Devil Mansion proceeded to explain to Yukari and the others everything that had taken place with the armored men up to that point in time. Yukari, being the one person in Gensokyo who is always going outside the border, and her shikigami who sometimes join her believed it without a doubt. Mima was a little more skeptical, but once Marisa produced the wallet she had "borrowed" from Genichiro, she opted to believe it. Suika found the story interesting. Whether she believed it or not was up for debate.

"So that's where you came from, is it?" asked Yukari, of Genichiro.

"Yeah. I guess I might look like someone you used to know; someone you didn't like too much, apparently," spoke Genichiro.

"Oh, no, I was just a little tired from those 'power suppressors,' as you call them. I couldn't focus right; I really thought you were one of those armored men," spoke Yukari.

"And, as Yukari is my onmyouji, I was compelled to attack you as well. Chen wasn't affected, since her connection to Lady Yukari goes through me," spoke Ran.

"I see. I won't hold it against you, then," replied Genichiro.

"_Thank goodness he bought that; no need for anyone to be poking around that Pandora's Box. Especially that little magician thief,"_ thought Ran.

"Well, now that we know that much, I have to ask. Where did you get that from?" asked Marisa of Genichiro's sword.

"That doesn't look like one of the ones on display in the mansion," spoke Flandre.

"It isn't," replied Remilia, while looking at Patchouli.

"My spell had nothing to do with it," replied Patchouli.

"This is a part of me," replied Genichiro, "It's soul bound to me, and continues on with me each time I reincarnate."

"What is it made out of? That isn't metal, is it?" asked Marisa.

"You can't steal this from me, you know," spoke Genichiro.

"I wasn't going to," replied Marisa.

"You're not 'borrowing' it, either," spoke Genichiro.

"Fine, fine, ze," replied Marisa.

"So, what is it made of? I don't know what this is made out of, but it sure is resilient!" shouted Flandre, while holding her wand up.

"This sword is forged from the feathers of a crow tengu, the horns of a were hakutaku, and one of my own fangs. The fang is what binds it to me," replied Genichiro.

"Looks like a weapon of high power; the one who forged this blade was a master of the art," spoke Mima, while looking the weapon over.

"My mother had this made for me when I was still young. It was given to me as a coming of age gift. She had hoped I would help her guard the grounds of the Great Tengu Mountain," replied Genichiro.

"Like the Youkai Mountain?" asked Flandre.

"I suppose. I haven't been there before. I decided not to join the guard, though, choosing a more peaceful life in the forests. Then I found out that the settlement on the mountain was wiped out by a group of vengeful humans. My mother survived, although she was beaten badly. She had her entire right arm severed during the attack; the scar remained after her arm regenerated. My father was killed that day, while he was trying to protect everyone. At some point, it was renamed Mount Asahi by the humans. I wanted to get revenge; I was fortunate that my mother dissuaded me from doing so; it wouldn't have ended well for me. She told me to understand that not all humans were evil, and mostly acted out of fear. Over time, I swore to never use this weapon to harm humans. Maybe I shouldn't have gone so soft... but, that changed today, assuming these people are human," explained Genichiro.

"So, there were Tengu in your world?" asked Flandre.

"Oh yes, all manner of youkai existed at one point in time in my world. Then, all of a sudden, they all just disappeared. I don't know the reason why; by the time I had heard about it, it was already too late to do anything about it. I don't even know if the group that killed me the first time were part of it or not," replied Genichiro.

"Were there vampires?" asked Flandre.

"I would think so. They certainly made enough movies and stories about them, so they must have existed at some point. One of the things I've learned over time is that most fiction is rooted in fact. I guess there wasn't anyone like you, though, Yukari. I imagine if there was a version of you in our world, we wouldn't have been wiped out," spoke Genichiro.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment," spoke Yukari.

"Hey, wait a moment," spoke Flandre.

"What is it?" asked Remilia.

"Weren't there a pair of fairies with us?" asked Flandre.

"Oh yeah, that little idiot and her friend were here with us, weren't they?" asked Marisa.

"You think they ran away?" asked Remilia.

"They were blown up. I saw it," spoke Suika.

"Well, they'll be back soon enough, I'm sure," spoke Genichiro.

"Hey guys!" shouted Cirno, as she came into the shrine.

"You just regenerated, try not to make everyone angry," spoke Dai.

"Speak of the fairy," muttered Marisa.

"What did I miss?" asked Cirno.

"Nothing special," spoke Genichiro.

"Who are you? And why are you dressed like this guy I met a couple of days ago?" asked Cirno.

Genichiro carefully explained who he was to the ice fairy. She was a little surprised at first, and had trouble believing what she was told, until Dai urged her to let it go.

"Well, as much as I would enjoy further going into Genichiro's personal history, I think it's time for us to learn a little more about these people," spoke Yukari, while pointing at Zero-zero-nine and the others bound with him.

"Let's start with taking these off," spoke Marisa, as she walked up to Zero-zero-nine. Even as his energy was being drained off by Suika's spell, he was still struggling hard. Marisa grabbed the side of his helmet, and tried to take it off. She found it was stuck on to the rest of the suit.

"Stupid thing! Come off already!" shouted Marisa. Ran walked over to Marisa and undid the latches on the side of the helmet.

"Uh... thanks?" asked Marisa, as she took the helmet off, revealing Zero-zero-nine was indeed a human. He had wavy, shoulder length brown hair, lightly tanned skin, and black eyes. As Yukari and Genichiro got a look at him, they both paled in response.

"_That's impossible! The last time I saw him, he was dead!" _thought Yukari.

"_There's no way... he has to be a descendant, or something. He'd be over three hundred years old otherwise, and humans don't live that long!"_ thought Genichiro.

"Lady Yukari?" asked Ran.

"Who are you?" asked Yukari, as she walked over to Zero-zero-nine.

"That is none of your concern," replied Zero-zero-nine.

"You tried to kill me, dear, I believe that makes it my concern," replied Yukari.

"Screw you! I'm not telling any of you anything!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

"Oh? Perhaps one of the others will be a little more forthcoming?" asked Yukari.

Zero-zero-nine paled at those words.

"_If they try to interrogate them, they might figure it out!"_ thought Zero-zero-nine.

"Alright, alright. My number is Zero-zero-nine. I no longer have a name," replied Zero-zero-nine.

"That's much better," replied Yukari, "Now, where are you from?"

"I was born in Gensokyo," replied Zero-zero-nine.

"Which part of Gensokyo?" asked Yukari.

"The underground," replied Zero-zero-nine.

Yukari paused and thought over the response for a moment, pondering if she knew of an underground settlement that had the potential for creating the technology they were using. She concluded there were no such settlements known to her.

"You're lying," spoke Yukari.

"What makes you think that?" asked Zero-zero-nine.

"There are no underground settlements that could have produced someone like you. Only the oni and select youkai live in the underground," spoke Yukari.

"He's not lying, at least, not all the way," spoke Genichiro.

"How do you know?" asked Yukari.

"All of us Wolf Tengu have a heightened sense of smell. I can use it to tell when someone is lying. He's right about being born in the underground of Gensokyo, but he wasn't born in some kind of settlement," replied Genichiro.

"So, you were born in some kind of facility, like the one supposedly under Misty Lake?" asked Yukari.

"Yes," grumbled Zero-zero-nine.

"That's better. Where did those suits come from? The outside world, or your parallel world?" asked Yukari.

"They were made here with the technology of the other world," replied Zero-zero-nine.

"And these suits and other machines you have can open gaps between this world and the other world?" asked Yukari.

"They can. You should know that much already, after listening to what they told you," replied Zero-zero-nine.

"I don't like secondhand information. Now, is the building under Misty Lake you're only base?" asked Yukari.

"It is," replied Zero-zero-nine.

"No, it isn't," spoke Genichiro, picking up on the man's lie.

"Forget it! I'm not telling you were all our facilities are! It doesn't matter! Soon, this world will be ours! Our technology combined with the magic of this land will produce all we need to found a new world order. Gensokyo is only the beginning, we'll rule all of this world, the other world, and all worlds we touch!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

"Well, if you're not going to be any more use," spoke Yukari, as she made her way over to one of the other men.

"No! Stop!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

Yukari undid the helmet of the next armored man. His appearance shocked all those present.

"Twins?" asked Ran.

"Something isn't right," spoke Genichiro.

"I also sense something is off," spoke Mima.

Yukari, Ran, and Genichiro took the helmets off of the other three armored men. All of them looked exactly the same.

"Quintuplets?" asked Ran, "Is this really possible?"

"They're not quintuplets," spoke Mima.

"Even quintuplets are not fully identical. If nothing else, at least their scent should be different. All these men... they are identical in every sense of the word. This... this isn't possible," spoke Genichiro.

"The only way this could be, then, is if they were cloned, right?" asked Ran.

"Correct," spoke Mima.

"Clones? Like my 'Four of a Kind?'" asked Flandre.

"Not quite; your clones disappear if they take enough damage. These five, though..." spoke Sakuya.

"It's as though they were produced in some kind of factory," spoke Ran.

"That is quite likely," spoke Genichiro.

"Perhaps," spoke Yukari.

"Knowing that solves nothing! You'll never stop us!" shouted Zero-zero-nine.

"Shut up," spoke Mima, as she used a spell to forcibly shut Zero-zero-nine's mouth.

"That must tell us something; he seemed quite worried about us finding this out," spoke Genichiro.

"I'm inclined to agree with you. He wouldn't care if it wasn't important. Unfortunately, this doesn't tell me anything alone. There must be something else to it," asked Yukari.

"Maybe. There is one thing I need to know. Do you know who Sen Kario is?" asked Genichiro.

Zero-zero-nine stared at Genichiro intently for a moment. Within a few moments, his eyes grew wide and he started to scream out in pain, as did the other armored men. The screaming continued for a few moments, before suddenly stopping. Genichiro walked over to Zero-zero-nine to check for his pulse; he concluded the man was dead.

"What does this mean?" asked Genichiro.

"How do you know who Sen Kario is?" asked Yukari.

"Hm?" asked Genichiro.

"Sen Kario, the man who looks like these individuals. After seeing this, I believe it's safe to assume he's somehow related to all of this. Now then, how do you know Sen Kario?" asked Yukari.

"He killed me in one of my previous lives, or rather, he helped to kill me. He was always around the father of one of my lovers. He showed up right after I revealed myself to be a youkai. He was the first to light the fire that killed me in that life," spoke Genichiro.

"He sounds like the Sen Kario of this world," replied Yukari.

"So he exists here, too?" asked Genichiro.

"He did. He was killed by a youkai," spoke Yukari.

"I see," spoke Genichiro.

"I take it this was before I became your shikigami," spoke Ran.

"Correct. It was close to a thousand years ago. He led a group of humans who wished to exterminate all youkai. He had considerable popularity among the humans in a time where youkai killing humans was relatively common. One day, he attempted to initiate his plan by attempting to kill a certain youkai. After what appeared to be a long battle, the youkai won; she had managed to slice his head open with her sword. The youkai panicked, and summoned me, knowing how powerful I was. She hoped I could use my abilities to revive the man. Unfortunately, even I can't resurrect a human. She had brutalized Sen by the time I got there. That image is one of many forever burned into my memory. The youkai feared retribution from the humans. In the end, though, Sen's death actually dissuaded the humans of the time from attempting another mass extermination. I suppose seeing one of their own brutalized in the way Sen was drove them off for a time," explained Yukari.

"And this took place a thousand years ago?" asked Genichiro.

"Yes," replied Yukari.

"Interesting. The Sen Kario of my world lived about three hundred years ago. He also led an anti-youkai group, though, he was taken less seriously, since most of the youkai had gone extinct by that point in time," spoke Genichiro.

"And yet here are these copies of him," spoke Mima.

"There's something off, though," spoke Genichiro.

"What would that be?" asked Yukari.

"They don't have his scar," replied Genichiro.

"Scar?" asked Yukari.

"Your Kario not have a scar? It was right here, across the left side of his head. He had part of his ear missing, too, like someone had tried to cut his head open," spoke Genichiro, as he traced his hand over Zero-zero-nine's head to illustrate the scar. Yukari looked surprised at the comment.

"Precisely like this?" asked Yukari, as she retraced the line.

"Yeah," spoke Genichiro.

"This can't be a coincidence," spoke Yukari.

"What do you mean?" asked Genichiro.

"Our Kario was killed by a gash going into his head, following the exact same line, down to having part of his ear cut off," spoke Yukari.

"But... the Kario of my world couldn't have been alive a thousand years ago," spoke Genichiro.

"That should indeed be unlikely, but with this many similarities, it's hard to dismiss anything at this point," spoke Yukari.

"Well... are you sure the Kario of this world was killed?" asked Genichiro.

"That slash was the killing blow; as I said, the body I found was brutalized after death. Limbs were severed, organs were removed, and blood was everywhere. The Kario I am referring to was indeed dead," explained Yukari.

"The Kario of my world had no scars to indicate further injury, just the scar on the side of his head," spoke Genichiro.

"This is crazy. What could all of this mean?" asked Marisa.

"I can't say for sure. There are two people who may be able to tell us something," spoke Yukari.

"Who do you have in mind?" asked Mima.

"Eirin should be able to do tests on these bodies. We should be able to learn something from that," spoke Yukari.

"Who's the other person?" asked Marisa.

"The youkai who killed Kario; she is still around to this day," spoke Yukari.

"Who was this youkai? Anyone we know?" asked Cirno.

Yukari offered a small smirk in response.

"Not quite," replied Yukari, "She should be in the Forest of Magic."

"Now I have to know who this is, ze!" shouted Marisa.

Yukari made a grin again.

"Ran, Chen, look after Reimu. We're heading out to see an old friend of mine," spoke Yukari.

"Yes, Lady Yukari," replied Ran and Chen.

"You're friend might want a picture to go by," spoke Genichiro, as he pulled out his cellphone, and took a picture of the five armored men.

"You really are a Tengu," spoke Marisa.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Genichiro.

"They like to take pictures and write newspapers," replied Marisa.

"And spread gossip! They're fun to read," spoke Flandre.

"I'm not the type; I'm just taking a picture. Don't draw such conclusions," spoke Genichiro.

"I see you also have a cell phone," spoke Yukari.

"Huh? Well, yeah. Not that it'll do me much here. I can't even recharge the thing after the battery dies, not that it matters; I don't think my service crosses inter-dimensional boundaries," spoke Genichiro.

"That would make you the first outsider to realize that before panicking," replied Yukari.

"Maybe," spoke Genichiro.

"I can fix your service problem for you later, now then, shall we?" asked Yukari.

"We should probably put these bodies on ice, or something, so they don't decay too much," spoke Remilia.

"Yeah, humans tend to go out of date kinda quick," spoke Flandre.

"I can fix that!" shouted Cirno, as she froze the five bodies with her power.

"Onward!" shouted Cirno.

The group, except Ran, Chen, and a sleeping Reimu made their way into the forest, keeping an eye open for any more armored men showing up.

"Will Reimu be okay with just Ran and Chen looking after her? Those people could come back at any time," spoke Marisa.

"Oh, don't worry about that. It's actually better if it's just the three of them. If something happens, Ran knows what to do," spoke Yukari.

"I hope you know what you're doing," replied Marisa.

"Have I ever not known what I was doing?" asked Yukari.

"Well, there's that thing about you and the moon," spoke Marisa.

"As I've said several times over, I planned that outcome from the beginning, the reason being none of your business," replied Yukari.

"Geez, it's like if you don't argue with someone over something, you'll die," spoke Remilia.

"What was that!" shouted Marisa.

"Mistress, you're not helping," spoke Sakuya.

"Nah, just think of it as an in-flight movie," spoke Genichiro.

"A what?" asked Flandre.

"Just enjoy the show," replied Genichiro.

"Ah, there she is," spoke Yukari, as she led the group down to a small clearing. Within the clearing, there was a blob of darkness moving about, bumping into random objects.

"You're kidding, right?" asked Marisa.

"No, I'm not," replied Yukari.

"Hey Rumia!" shouted Cirno.

"Huh?" came the voice of the blob, before it crashed into a tree. It fell to the ground, the darkness disappearing to reveal what looked to be a child with blond hair, white blouse, black dress and vest, and a red ribbon in her hair.

"I know she says she eats humans, but did she really brutalize someone?" asked Marisa.

"Ow... oh, Cirno... and Dai... and that Marisa person... and a whole bunch of people I don't see that often," spoke Rumia.

"Rumia, dear, we have a small problem," spoke Yukari.

"Hm? Are you Lady Yukari?" asked Rumia.

"Drop the act, Rumia," replied Yukari.

"What act?" asked Rumia, starting to sound frustrated.

"If she's never met you before, she's never met you before," spoke Cirno.

"Yeah, I mean, I've heard of you before, who hasn't? But I've never really met you before," spoke Rumia.

"Sen Kario is alive," spoke Yukari.

Rumia stopped in place, startled by the statement.

"What did you say?" asked Rumia.

"This guy, right here," spoke Genichiro, as he pulled up one of the pictures he took.

"What... what is this..." spoke Rumia, her voice trembling in shock.

"That was taken a half hour ago," spoke Genichiro.

"Ha ha... I don't know who that is. I don't know anything," spoke Rumia.

"That man just attacked Reimu's shrine, trying to kill everyone there, including me, and capture Reimu. This isn't a joke, Rumia. Now, drop the act," spoke Yukari, giving the last part as a command.

"But... but how? There's no way," spoke Rumia, as she shuddered, grabbing the side of her head. Both her voice and mannerisms changed; she sounded more mature, beyond her apparent age.

"Believe it or not, it won't change reality," spoke Yukari.

"But... there's no way! He was dead! I didn't just kill him out of self-defense, I tore him apart! And the worst part was that I enjoyed doing it! I left that life behind for a reason!" shouted Rumia.

"What's going on?" asked Cirno.

"I'd like to know as well," spoke Dai.

"And to bring this up in front of my friends. Why? Why!" shouted Rumia.

"I just told you why. If you don't believe that," spoke Yukari, as she held up her right hand, "believe this."

Yukari's hand still bore a gash at the palm from when she had been hit by Jin's sword; while everyone wondered why she didn't heal herself as she did Reimu, no one questioned it.

"He did that to you?" asked Rumia.

"I surely did not do it to myself," replied Yukari, "and I wouldn't let someone do this to me."

"But you would use those gaps to avoid things like that," spoke Rumia.

"They have a weapon that can disrupt my ability. _My ability_," replied Yukari.

"They?" asked Rumia.

Genichiro pulled up another picture on his phone, one showing all five armored men.

"There's more than one of him?" shouted Rumia.

"We had nearly a hundred attack the shrine," answered Yukari.

"This... this is just... this doesn't make any sense," spoke Rumia.

"The Sen Kario pictured here is some kind of copy. I believe the one they copied originated from my world. Why or how, I have no idea," spoke Genichiro.

"You're not from here. An Outsider... explains the outfit, but what do you mean by your world?" asked Rumia.

"It's a bit of a story," spoke Genichiro.

"Perhaps we should fill you in on everything," spoke Yukari.

The group explained to Rumia everything that had taken place up to that point. Rumia was shocked at everything she heard, culminating with the armored men to be revealed to be Sen Kario.

"So why are you bothering me with this? What do I have to do with anything?" asked Rumia.

"Indeed, why you? Perhaps you should give everyone here a little history lesson," spoke Yukari.

"About?" asked Rumia.

"Sen Kario," spoke Yukari.

"Very well," spoke Rumia, as she dove in to her memories, recalling what she knew of the man named Sen Kario.

"Sen Kario was a self-appointed youkai hunter. For reasons unknown, he held a grudge against all youkai. It could have been a drive to 'purify' the land, it may have been to avenge a death, we never found out. He had gained a degree of political power in one of the villages. He nearly held as much power as the leader of his village. After gaining his position, he used it to spread hate of youkai. The people the village began to attack the youkai they encountered. They murdered the few youkai who lived in the village while they were sleeping, executed those passing through, and drove off those they couldn't kill. Even the youkai living near the village were attacked, either killed or driven away. We stopped going near the village entirely, considering it to be a death sentence to go there. Of course, not all youkai feared the village. Some actively attacked in retribution, which only brought forth more deaths, both youkai and human. This worked well for Kario; youkai killing humans would only serve to motivate the people of his village to kill youkai. Then there was me. I didn't live near the village, opting to stay in my small home well beyond the village. I knew of it's reputation, and avoided it. Occasionally, a stray villager would wander near my home, realize I was a youkai, and try to kill me. I would tell them I would eat them in order to drive them off, fighting those I couldn't frighten, and never killing anyone. I told myself I would never kill a human, that eating humans was wrong, and that we should all strive to get along with one another. My mistake was letting the humans who found me get away. Naturally, they told Kario about me. I suppose he heard enough stories and rumors about me to gain an interest in me. Kario himself decided he would kill me, using me as an example to all other youkai. He stormed my house one night. When he found I wasn't there, he destroyed it, and waited in the rubble. When I returned to find my house destroyed, he attacked me while I was still in a state of shock. I had to defend myself, so I used my sword, and attacked back. I was only trying to injure him and scare him off, but during the course of the fight, he tripped on a piece of rubble, resulting in my cutting into his head, killing him. As his body fell to the ground, I was at first shocked at having killed someone. Then my shock turned to rage, rage at what he had done. I began beating his body over and over. When that didn't satisfy me, I started to tear him apart, ripping off arms, legs, fingers, and toes. I even cut open his body and ripped out his organs. I was drunk with the enjoyment of what I was doing. When the my mind caught up to my actions, I was horrified, scared of what I could do. I feared I would go to the village, and run amok, killing every man, woman, and child," spoke Rumia.

"You never did, though. You didn't have to. After they found Kario's body, they were too scared to attack you. Other youkai did attack the village, nearly destroying it. Those left behind vowed to never attack youkai again. Without Kario to spur them on and their people dying, they no longer held the motivation to attack youkai," spoke Yukari.

"Still, though, I feared my abilities," spoke Rumia.

"To give you an idea of why that fear was justified, I should tell you all that the three most powerful youkai in Gensokyo are myself, Kazami Yuka, and Yamihono Rumia," spoke Yukari.

"Wait, _Yamihono_ Rumia?" asked Genichiro.

"She has a family name?" asked Marisa.

"I dropped it to further disappear into history," replied Rumia.

"You are history, at least you were. Amongst the Tengu of my world, your name is honored for standing up against the humans who threatened us," spoke Genichiro.

"I've done no such thing here," replied Rumia.

"What happened to the Rumia of your world?" asked Flandre.

"She was killed by a human. Unfortunately, in my world, there's such thing as a true living legend," replied Genichiro.

"Well, here, I'm no one. That's how I prefer it. I'm not even a youkai of power anymore, I'm just trying to live for today, not worrying about the past or the future," spoke Rumia.

"Indeed, you made it clear that's what you wanted when you approached me. You brought me to your old house, and showed me what you did to Kario. You explained your fear of your own power and desire to die because of it," replied Yukari.

"But you didn't kill me," spoke Rumia.

"I'm not a murderer, at least not without some kind of motive. I couldn't just kill you for no reason, even with the evidence of your actions in front of me, so I came up with something else," spoke Yukari.

Rumia motioned towards the ribbon in her hair. No matter what she did, she could never grab a hold of it.

"That amulet seals the border between Rumia and her true power. It is made so that no one could ever touch it or remove it by force, except for me, should the need ever arise," spoke Yukari.

"Wait, you told me there was no way even you could remove it," spoke Rumia.

"If I told you I could, and your instinct drove you to release your powers again, you would ask me. You gave me the impression you didn't want anyone to be able to ever remove it, so I accommodated you as best as I could. Only someone with my level of power could make the attempt the remove it. Even then, there is a fail safe that would alert me if someone ever made a successful attempt," replied Yukari.

"Which is?' asked Rumia.

"If forcefully removed, the amulet would create a gap to absorb both you and the person responsible for doing so," spoke Yukari.

"Glad I never tried to take that thing off, not that I really cared," spoke Marisa.

"You mean there actually exists something you wouldn't be willing to take from someone?" asked Remilia.

"I only take things that interest me, ze," replied Marisa.

"Is that what it is. At least you finally admitted to 'taking' things instead of 'borrowing' them" spoke Remilia.

Both Remilia and Marisa disappeared in a gap as Marisa opened her mouth to reply.

"Those two can bicker in there for a little while, " spoke Yukari.

"Why are you telling me you can remove the amulet now?' asked Rumia.

"Because I intend to remove it now," replied Yukari.

"I can't let you do that! I don't want to become that person again!" shouted Rumia.

"It's necessary, Rumia. We need as many people as we can gather to deal with these people. I let you get by with the last couple of major incidents, but this time, you have a direct connection to those responsible," spoke Yukari.

"I believe the wolf said this Kario originated from his world; I do not wish to become that person again," replied Rumia.

"Again, you don't have a choice in the matter. You couldn't even put up a fight against me in your current state," spoke Yukari.

"Fine then, but promise me you'll put the seal back in place when this incident is over," spoke Rumia.

"I'll consider it, if you still feel need to have it. I believe I told you this before, but many of us have given into that desire to tear flesh apart before. Even I did at one point, but I let it go," spoke Yukari.

"Don't blame me if something happens," spoke Rumia, as she bowed her head down in front of Yukari.

Yukari chanted a small incantation, while waving her hand over the amulet. As Yukari spoke, the amulet glowed with a pale, purple light. After Yukari was done chanting, the amulet ceased glowing. At that point, Yukari placed her hand on it, and gently undid the ribbon.

"It's done," spoke Yukari.

"That's it?" asked Cirno, "I thought for sure something as going to happen."

Rumia stood still for a moment, before letting out a howl. Rumia's body was suddenly enveloped in a pitch black darkness that no light could penetrate. The blob of darkness started to grow, changing from a size that would just surround Rumia to a size that could accommodate an adult. The howling stopped as the darkness began to recede. It revealed a person much different than the Rumia everyone knew. This Rumia was an adult, still with her white blouse and black vest and dress. Her hair was now down to her waist, she had a small bust, and she had a large, completely black, sword.

"As much as I fear my power, I did hate being stuck as a child," spoke Rumia.

"Amazing!" shouted Cirno.

"You're not mad at me for hiding this from you for so long?" asked Rumia.

"Are you kidding! We'll be able to pull of much bigger pranks now!" shouted Cirno.

"Um, Cirno, I don't think you should really say that around others," spoke Dai.

"It does lose the effect when everyone knows to expect it," spoke Rumia.

"Maybe," replied Cirno.

"I want to see these copies of Kario for myself," spoke Rumia.

"We were going back there, anyway. It's on our way to Eientei," replied Yukari.

"Eientei?" asked Rumia.

"I want Eirin to look at those bodies, see what she can learn from them," spoke Yukari.

"You mean they were all dead?" asked Rumia.

"There are more of them; at least one got away from the shrine," spoke Genichiro.

"I see," spoke Rumia.

"The one who escaped was strong enough to beat Reimu. If there are more like him, then it would be wise for us not to underestimate them," spoke Yukari.

"I see. So that's why; if they have that kind of power, you would want me around. Do you plan on getting Yuka, as well?" asked Rumia.

"She's too unstable; if she gets involved, she gets involved, but I'm not about to go out of my way to pull her into this," replied Yukari.

"Agreed. She needs a seal on her abilities more than I do," spoke Rumia.

"That's a topic for another day, now, shall we get going?" asked Yukari.

"Excuse me, Lady Yukari, but could you release the mistress first?" asked Sakuya.

"Hm? Oh yes," spoke Yukari, as she opened another gap, this one spitting out Remilia and Marisa.

"What was that for, ze!" shouted Marisa.

"Why did you do that!" shouted Remilia.

"Do be careful with your words, lest you wish for me to place a boundary between your mouth and body. I can assure you it would be an unpleasant experience," spoke Yukari.

Remilia and Marisa grew silent at the threat from Yukari. The pair then took note of Rumia's changes.

"Rumia? That you?" asked Marisa.

"This is my true form," replied Rumia.

"I... see..." muttered Marisa.

"Let's go," spoke Yukari.

The group made their return to the shrine, still keeping a eye out for the armored men, should they return. They arrived without incident to see Reimu was awake, and talking over the situation with Ran. Ran seemed to be a little puzzled over something.

"I see your back, and you brought Rumia with you," spoke Ran.

"Oh, another Rumia?" asked Reimu.

"No, I am the same Rumia you met before. This is my true form. I'll give you the details later," replied Rumia, as she looked over the frozen armored men. She frowned at recognizing the face.

"They are indeed copies of him. Even the scent still left lingering in the air is the same," spoke Rumia.

"Reimu just told me something interesting about the one wearing red armor," spoke Ran.

"Which was?" asked Yukari.

"He told me his name was Hiodoshi Jin," spoke Reimu.

"Do any of you recognize the name?" asked Ran.

"I don't recall meeting anyone by that name," spoke Yukari.

"I've never heard of such a person," spoke Rumia.

"The name doesn't sound familiar to me," spoke Genichiro.

"Is it possible these people are descendants of this Sen Kario?" asked Reimu.

"And look this alike? There's no way that should be possible," spoke Genichiro.

"I'm inclined to agree with him. It shouldn't be possible. Hopefully Eirin will be able to tell us something useful about them, spoke Yukari.

"I'm coming with you," spoke Reimu.

"Are you sure you shouldn't rest for a little longer?" asked Yukari.

"I'm fine," replied Reimu.

"Perhaps it would be for the best. It would be easier to look after her with numbers on our side. Not to mention they have no way of knowing about Rumia," spoke Ran.

"Very well, then," replied Yukari.

"Well, how are we going to carry these guys?" asked Marisa.

"I can carry one of them," spoke Genichiro.

"Oh, there's no need for that," spoke Yukari, as she swallowed up the five bodies in one of her gaps.

"That must really come in handy," spoke Genichiro.

"You don't want to know what kinds of things she's pulled out of those," spoke Reimu.

"Can you pull out a house?" asked Flandre.

"If I wanted," replied Yukari.

"I want to see that!" shouted Flandre.

"Another time, my dear," replied Yukari.

"Right, to Eientei," spoke Reimu.

Under Misty Lake, Jin was returning to the base there, carrying the samples he retrieved from Reimu and Yukari. Jin made his way to the main science lab, presenting the samples to the scientist there.

"S-one-seven, I need you to analyze these right away," spoke Jin.

"Yes, sir," replied S-one-seven.

Jin left the room for another, this one full of red armored suits. Jin removed the one he was wearing, revealing a skin tight, dark red outfit below, which showed his toned, yet not overly muscular body. Jin went over to a small panel near the door, and pushed a button on it.

"S-three-three, I need my suit repaired again, and new weapons for it. Include your latest upgrades," spoke Jin.

"It will be taken care of," came the voice of S-three-three.

Jin grunted and made his way for the portal room.

"I am going to the shrine. I'll be back shortly," spoke Jin.

The scientist in the room nodded, activating the machine, and opening a portal to a different part of Gensokyo. Jin stepped through, the scientist closing it immediately afterward.

Jin arrived in another portal room. There was no one in the room at his arrival. Jin walked out of the room, and into the corridor. Unlike the room behind him, the corridor was finished in wood paneling, and minimal lighting. There were no windows in the corridor, and there were only a few rooms. Jin walked down to the other end of the corridor, going through a door that led to grand room, also finished in wood paneling. In the middle of the room sat a throne made of cedar. Behind the throne was a machine that appeared much out of place in the room. The machine was large, filling up the space behind it. The machine had a small chamber in the front, capable of holding one person. Jin knelt down before the throne, as the door to the chamber opened.

"Did you capture the miko and youkai?" asked a feminine voice.

"I was only able to obtain samples; there were too many others there; even our ambush failed to derail them," replied Jin.

"That is unfortunate, but at least you have the samples. How many will you need for your next target?" asked the woman.

"I should need no more than seventy this time," spoke Jin.

"Very well. What is your target, and what do you intend to gather there?" asked the woman.

"I heard there are powerful individuals at a place called Eientei, my lady," replied Jin.

_A/N: I gave Rumia a last name for Genichiro to recognize her; it will be an important point in a later chapter_


	8. Usagi

_Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 8 – Usagi**

"Perhaps I should invite some guests over today?" asked Kaguya, while walking through the grounds of Eientei. Kaguya had finished healing from her latest battle with Mokou. Kaguya ended up losing the fight, due to Mokou destroying her arm with a surprise attack. Kaguya sighed to herself as she continued walking along, watching a few of the rabbits moving about the grounds.

"Maybe some tea will help clear my mind," spoke Kaguya, as she returned inside the mansion. One of the rabbits greeted her as she entered.

"Could you prepare me some tea?" asked Kaguya.

"Sure, Lady Kaguya!" shouted the rabbit, before walking off.

"Oh, princess, staying in today?" asked Eirin, as she was walking by.

"Perhaps. I was thinking of inviting guests here today," replied Kaguya.

"A little gathering would make for a change in pace," spoke Eirin.

"What have you been up to? You've been occupied since the Scarlet Devil's group had been here," spoke Kaguya.

"I've been researching abilities that could grant one immortality," replied Eirin.

"Are you trying to make another version of the Hourai Elixir?" asked Kaguya.

"Oh, no, nothing of the sort. That guy who was with them was said to have a type of immortality, one different from you. I've been looking into how it would be possible for this to be true," answered Eirin.

"You could just ask the man. I'm sure he's recovered by now," spoke Kaguya.

"I'm sure he has, and I intend to ask him about it the next time I see him, but I wish to be at least a little more knowledgeable on the subject matter beforehand," replied Eirin.

"I suppose it is one way to pass the time," spoke Kaguya.

"Hopefully I'll have it figured out soon," spoke Eirin, "I believe I am close to figuring out his secret."

"Oh? You'll have to tell me how it ends," replied Kaguya.

As the pair were talking, Tewi came rushing into the mansion. She appeared to be out of breath and frightened.

"Tewi? What's wrong? You do something to upset Mokou?" asked Kaguya.

"There's... there's these people... people in strange armor..." spoke Tewi between breaths.

"Strange armor?" asked Kaguya.

Eirin had a serious look on her face at the mention of the armored men, remembering what she had heard of them before.

"How many of them are there?" asked Eirin.

"I don't know, a lot. It was like watching a cloud of people," replied Tewi.

"Get the rabbits together. Udonge!" shouted Eirin.

Reisen showed up at hearing her name called, her ears picking it up from the other side of the mansion.

"Yes, Lady Eirin?" asked Reisen.

"Prepare everyone for a battle. Kaguya, we'll need you to go into the hidden room," spoke Eirin.

"I understand. We can't let these people get the secret to immortality out of me. Make sure to avoid being captured yourself," spoke Kaguya, as she headed off to a hidden chamber.

"I suppose it was only a matter of time before they came here," spoke Eirin, as she went to prepare herself for the coming fight.

Tewi and Reisen had gathered all the rabbits around the mansion.

"So, boss, got a plan?" asked Tewi.

"Don't die," replied Reisen.

"That's it?" asked Tewi.

"We need to protect the princess; the best way to do that is to keep going," replied Reisen.

"So, basically, it's the same thing as that time Eirin and the princess hid the moon, right?" asked Tewi.

"Exactly, except this time, instead of witches, mikos, youkai, ghosts, and vampires, it's a bunch of humans with outsider technology," replied Reisen.

"Humans? This'll be easy!" shouted Tewi.

"I don't know; they were able to capture that vampire's sister. If they can do that much, we should be careful," replied Reisen.

"Oh yeah, they did do that, didn't they? I'll be careful," spoke Tewi.

"Make sure they are careful, too," replied Reisen.

"They don't need me to tell them that," spoke Tewi.

The group of rabbits spread themselves out, waiting for the coming of the armored men. The land grew silent in anticipation. Even the slow wind that had been blowing stopped. The rabbits kept an eye to the sky, waiting to see what was going to happen. Then the silence was suddenly broken by the arrival of the group of armored men, led by Jin. Reisen was the first to approach them.

"What is your business here?" asked Reisen.

Jin didn't answer, instead attempting to scan Reisen. He was surprised to see his scanner didn't see anything.

"Ho, interesting. You're clearly here before me, and yet I can't scan you. Interesting, most interesting," spoke Jin, while playing around with different scans.

"That doesn't answer my question," replied Reisen.

"I'm here to see the lady of the house, and offer to take her on a little trip," spoke Jin.

"You will not be allowed to lay a hand on the princess," spoke Reisen.

"_Princess? So there's a princess here? She must be the most powerful one here,"_ thought Jin.

"I can, and I will," replied Jin, and he fired off a small burst into the nearby brush. Reisen hoped out to avoid being hit, dispelling the illusion Reisen she had set up.

"So, you can bend sound and light waves, can you? Impressive little trick," spoke Jin.

"Knowing what I do and how to deal with it are two different things," spoke Reisen.

"Too bad for you I now know both," replied Jin, as he fired at a bamboo stalk above him, forcing Reisen to move again.

"So, you're the real one," spoke Jin, as he scanned Reisen.

"Youkai Rabbit, capable of manipulating light and sound. Moderate power level, high threat level," spoke Jin.

"Leave this place immediately," spoke Reisen.

"I believe I've made my intention clear; I'm not leaving, now hand over the princess, or we'll be forced to go in after her," spoke Jin.

Reisen hopped back into the brush in response, knowing her attempts to negotiate were going no where. At that point, a massive danmaku barrage erupted from all around the men, taking out eleven of them before they could realize what was happening.

"_Clever girl, setting up that ambush while talking. Well played, but I can play better,"_ thought Jin. The armored men scattered and began firing in the direction of their destination, hoping to open a hole in the group of rabbits surrounding them. Their response was increased fire from the rabbits between the armored men and Eientei. As the danmaku fight continued, the shots fired from the rabbits started to slow down, allowing Jin to think they were being wiped out. Jin was about to charge up several rounds of concentrated bursts when he saw Tewi emerge from the brush.

"Owing Sign 'Vulnerary of Ohnamuji-sama!'" shouted Tewi. A dense sphere of danmaku appeared around Tewi, with several strings of danmaku emerging from it, spinning around Tewi before launching themselves into the crowd of armored men. A pair of the men were too close to Tewi when she started, resulting in their being taken down, while another didn't realize Tewi could fire the bursts off, resulting in his end. The rest backed off, seeing the wall before them with the rabbit of fortune at its center.

"_Just to make us think we had a chance and get closer, eh? She's either a decent strategist or lucky,"_ thought Jin, as he charged a burst of human sized danmaku to send in Tewi's direction. The earth rabbit moved out of the way and continued her attack, while the other rabbits gave her cover from the brush. The armored men had no way of knowing how many other rabbits were there with all of them hiding. Another armored man ignored the presence of the other rabbits, being taken down by one of their bullets while avoiding a stream of bullets from Tewi.

After Tewi finished her spell, she ran back into hiding, under the cover of the final part of her barrage. A couple of the armored men tried to get her, but ended up missing.

After a couple of minutes, Reisen emerged from the brush, under cover fire from her fellow rabbits.

"Spread Sign 'Invisible Full Moon!'" shouted Reisen. Reisen fired out dense, spherical waves of danmaku in combination with half human sized danmaku in random intervals. As the bullets got closer to the armored men, they disappeared, leading to them rushing towards the rabbit. The bullets then reappeared directly in front of the armored men, giving them no chance to move out the way. Reisen's first barrage took out five more of the armored men. A few others took minor hits, a couple losing one of their shoulder cannons. The group of men were forced to move back, not wanting to chance taking another hit. The men kept an eye on the bullets, looking to see about where they were every time they disappeared. A couple of the men were caught between a pair of waves of Reisen's bullets, and ended up getting hit by the bullets from the other rabbits while rushing to move out of the way of Reisen's attacks. Reisen's pattern continued for a couple of minutes. By the time Reisen had fired out the first couple of waves, the group had finally grown accustomed to the pattern of the disappearing bullets. Reisen jumped back into the brush at the end of her spell, followed by another round of cover fire from the other rabbits.

Jin attempted to lead his group into another charge through the ranks of the rabbits, but found his path cut off as the rabbits fired a dense barrage into their path, forming a wall of danmaku the men could not get past. One of the men were unable to stop in time, running straight into the barrage, and being torn up as a result. Jin led his men back as a result, while continuing to fire into the brush. Jin and the men could see most of the rabbits with the scanners their armored outfits had. They didn't have problems aiming for them, the problem was how the rabbits were able to keep moving, letting the brush take hits for them, should a bullet grow too close. Jin then noticed Reisen and Tewi had joined together and jumped out of the brush.

"Lunatic Sign 'Combined Illusion Wave!'" shouted Reisen and Tewi. Both rabbits began firing out a mass barrage of bullets in a spherical wave. Reisen's danmaku were shaped like bullets, while Tewi's danmaku were shaped like small arrow heads. The bullets of the pair were sent out in waves packed close together. The armored men had trouble evading through both pairs of waves. A several were hit by the first barrage, but only a few of them were taken out. The armored men quickly realized that only Tewi's bullets were real, while the others were only illusions, making it easier for the men to avoid the shots. Reisen then fired out a pair of lasers from her eyes, catching one armored man by surprise, while the others were able to get out of the way. The men continued to avoid Tewi's bullets, only to have several taken out by Reisen's bullets. The men quickly realized the laser was a distraction for Reisen changing which bullets were illusion and which were real. The men paid more attention to the bursts, watching to see when Reisen would change up the pattern. The spell lasted for a couple of minutes, quickly wearing down on the armored men. The pair of rabbits made their retreat back into the brush at the end of their spell.

"This is getting us nowhere! Are they ready yet, Zero-one-zero?" asked Jin.

"The last are just about to move into position... there, done. We can hit them as soon as you give the word," replied the armored man addressed as Zero-one-zero.

"Good," replied Jin, as he set up his next attack. The group of armored men began to slow their fire, giving the rabbits a little more breathing room for a couple of moments. Taking advantage of the break in attacks, the rabbits prepared to fire out another mass barrage at the armored men.

"Time for some rabbit stew," spoke Jin, as he activated the trap he had his men set. A mass of drones appeared out of the ground from under the brush, and began firing onto the rabbits right in their hiding place. Several shrieks could be heard coming from the brush as the rabbits were being cut down. The bullets sent in the direction of Jin and his men slowed as the rabbits were forced to deal with the drones attacking them. Jin took this to be his chance to break through, this time succeeding. Only a few rabbits were able to try to fire at the armored men, not enough to block them as they rushed past. The rabbits did their best to deal with the drones as quickly as possible.

"What kinds of things are these!" shouted Tewi, as she blasted apart one of the drones.

"I don't know. They must have placed them in the ground either sometime before getting here... no, that's not it," spoke Reisen, as she blew apart another of the drones.

"What? What's not it?" asked Tewi.

"I didn't give it much thought during the fight, but I think they were missing us on purpose. Some of their bullets were too far off, as though they were intended to hit the ground," explained Reisen. The pair of rabbits took out another drone while talking.

"Looks like they got past us!" shouted Tewi.

"We can catch up to them when we're done here. Eirin and the other rabbits at the mansion should be able to hold them for a little while," replied Reisen.

Jin and his men continued on through the last stretch of forest before Eientei. There were a few rabbits in the area, some taking shots at the armored men, but not enough of them to create another blockade. The armored men shot up a couple of the rabbits before making it into the mansion.

Jin and his men were expecting another massive group of rabbits to greet them when they entered. They were surprised to find the foyer of the mansion empty. The group did scans of the area to see where everyone had made their way. They looked for the largest group, and made their way down the corridors towards them. Eirin and a contingent of rabbits were guarding a door.

"Ah, so there's where the princess lies," spoke Jin.

"Princess? There's a princess here?" asked Eirin.

"Don't play dumb, I know she's here. Those little rabbits told me everything I wanted to know," replied Jin.

"I think they left out a couple of important details," spoke Eirin.

"Oh?" asked Jin.

"As I said, the princess is not here," replied Eirin.

"Then why are you so intent on guarding that door, hm? Guarding nothing?" asked Jin.

"Would you like to see what I'm guarding?" asked Eirin, as she opened the door.

"Go ahead, help yourselves," spoke Eirin.

Eirin and the rabbits stood to the side, preparing to allow Jin and his men to enter the room.

"Two-nine-eight," spoke Jin.

The man in question nodded, and made his way towards the room. Eirin and the rabbits didn't make a move to touch him. Upon entering the room, Two-nine-eight did a scan of the room to see if there was anything within.

"There's nothing here!" spoke Two-nine-eight.

"What?" asked Jin, as he led his men into the room. Everyone did a scan of the room, each finding nothing. Not even a cleverly hidden trap appeared before the men. Eirin and her contingent of rabbits followed in after the men.

"Find your princess?" asked Eirin.

"Where is she!" shouted Jin.

"Somewhere, I'm sure. Even I get lost in here from time to time. Seems I picked the wrong door to guard," replied Eirin, before snapping her fingers. The one entrance to the room shut in response.

"And now you can't leave," replied Eirin.

"Foolish move. You may have the home advantage, but we outnumber you two to one," spoke Jin.

"Don't be so sure," spoke Eirin.

At the moment, several panels slid off the walls to reveal more rabbits, each firing off a mass barrage of danmaku, followed with bursts of danmaku from Eirin and her group. Ten of the armored men were hit in the surprise attack, while many others took hits damaging their equipment.

"How! I should have seen them!" shouted Jin, as he and his men started to return fire.

"Reflective panels. I've been researching how one of my little friend's powers work. These panels block her abilities; seems they block yours, as well," replied Eirin.

Jin grumbled as he and his men continued to fire upon the youkai rabbits. The men acted quickly, charging up rapid bursts to try and overwhelm their opponents. Without any brush to hide in, the rabbits were slowly being gunned down. The injured were taken back to the small chambers they hid in before. Eirin analyzed the situation, noting there was a strong possibility the armored men would be able to wipe out the rabbits and corner her while still maintaining strong numbers. Eirin prepared one of her spell cards to level the playing field in her favor.

"God Sign 'Genealogy of the Sky-Born!'" shouted Eirin. Eirin fired out a mass burst of human-sized danmaku behind here, while sending out branching lasers in front of her, resembling a family tree. The lasers formed a net in front of her, surrounding the armored men. A couple of the men thought to avoid the web as it was forming. One was bisected by the lasers, while the other was hit with one of the human-sized danmaku. Eirin followed up the lasers with waves of smaller bullets, forcing the men to move around in the smaller spaces formed by the lasers. After the lasers dissipated, the men were forced to move out of the path of the next set of lasers. One more man was caught off guard as the spell continued. Jin and his men did their best to avoid being hit, no longer focusing on wiping out the rabbits. While the armored men were busy with Eirin, the rabbits reorganized themselves, taking care of the injured while regrouping, ready to cover for Eirin once her spell was done.

The armored men resumed their assault at the end of Eirin's spell, only to be met by a stronger barrage from the youkai rabbits. Another pair were surprised by the strength of the rabbits, both crashing into each other and exploding after being hit. Eirin fired off bursts of danmaku into the group of armored men while thinking up her next spell. Jin tried to target the Lunarian doctor with a charged burst of human-sized danmaku, only for the doctor to skillfully evade taking a single hit. When Eirin landed, she pulled out her next spell card.

"Resurrection 'Game of Rising!'" shouted Eirin. A small wave of blue danmaku appeared before Eirin, while she fired out alternating waves of black danmaku and human-sized green danmaku. The small blue danmaku didn't appear to do anything at first, with a couple of the armored men going near them to avoid being hit by the other bursts. Within a few moments, the blue danmaku split, increasing the size of the field they made. One man was too close to the blue danmaku, while another saw the split, and moved, forgetting about the other danmaku until it was too late to react. The board of blue danmaku continued to multiply, spreading itself out further and further throughout the room. Jin and his men tried firing out drones to burrow into the floor, but found the floor was too hard for their shots to burrow into, leading to the drones being smashed against the floor, or exposed to and destroyed by the shots Eirin was firing out. Jin dropped quickly dropped the strategy, switching back to survival as the bursts continued forth from Eirin. At the end of the spell, three more armored men failed to account for the growing size of the blue danmaku, resulting in their being taken out just as the spell dissipated.

Jin and his men were prepared for the counter barrage from the rabbits, and let loose their own barrage of human-sized danmaku. The two groups exchanged bursts. Some of the bullets destroyed themselves, while most made it through to the groups they were targeting. Several of the rabbits were hit, their surprise in the attack causing them to drop their guard long enough to get hit. Most were able to continue their attack while waiting for Eirin to use her next spell. After their initial burst, Jin and his men targeted Eirin, hoping to overwhelm her with numbers, only to realize their numbers weren't as strong as they were before. Jin quickly realized his group was on the losing side of the battle as Eirin pulled out her next spell.

"Esoterica 'Astronomical Entombing!'" shouted Eirin. Eirin produced a field of white danmaku spread out around the armored men, pushing the point onto the men that they were truly trapped. The white danmaku field was followed with a mass barrage of dark danmaku, leaving the men to avoid within the field they were given. As the barrage commenced, Eirin fired out a blue, human-sized danmaku, striking the white field. The result was the field being distorted, the white bullets moving in response to being struck with the human-sized burst. Three of the armored men were too close to the edge of the field when it began to change, resulting in their being taken out. Eirin continued firing human-sized danmaku to further distort the field to the point where the entire field became another part of her barrage. Once the field moved, Eirin replaced it with another, and continued her assault. Another pair of the armored men, who were tired from the battles up to that point, were taken out when they ignored one of the human-sized bullets that caused the bullets they were avoiding to move to begin with. By the time the spell ended, Eirin and her group clearly outnumbered Jin and his group.

Jin knew he was out of options, and pondered what to do. He knew he would be in trouble of Eirin used another of her spell cards. The Lunarian doctor appeared to be in thought over which one to use next. At that moment, Reisen and another group of rabbits entered the room, adding to the barrage that was already in place. Seeing his chance, Jin prepared one last ditch effort to get him and his group out of the trap set for them. Jin pulled out a flash bang grenade, and threw it towards Eirin. While Eirin and Reisen recognized the device, and covered their eyes, the other rabbits were unfamiliar, resulting in those around Eirin and Reisen being stunned. Jin and his men rushed through the stunned group. Eirin quickly recovered and fired at the men as they were escaping, taking out three more of them. Jin saw Reisen having trouble recollecting herself, due to her ears being more sensitive to sound. Jin grabbed her, and took off. Before Reisen could put up too much of a struggle, Jin quickly injected her with a tranquilizer. Eirin took note, and ran after Jin and his men. The remaining men fired off a massive burst of human-sized danmaku, forcing Eirin to move out of the way.

"Reisen!" shouted Eirin.

The group headed for the exit, no longer interested in finding Kaguya. They knew they had lost their battle. Upon leaving, they headed out past the back of the mansion, not wanting to risk running into the rabbits they ran into during their arrival. As Eirin left the mansion, she tripped a hastily set trap, not seeing it due to her rushing to get to Reisen. The drone Eirin ran into exploded, knocking the Lunarian across the ground in front of Eientei. By the time Eirin was able to pick herself up again, the armored men were already out of sight. Eirin cursed herself for missing such an obvious trap, hoping Reisen would find a way to escape.

"Eirin!" shouted Tewi, as her group made it back to Eientei. Several were carrying injured rabbits with them.

"They're gone," replied Eirin.

"Did they get to the princess?" asked Tewi.

"No, they never got near her," replied Eirin.

"Ah, that's a relief... but why are you upset?" asked Tewi.

"They... they took Reisen," replied Eirin.

"They what!" shouted Tewi, "Where did they go!"

"I don't know; I lost track of them. They used a device to stun everyone with me; I was the only one who wasn't too greatly affected," replied Eirin.

Tewi tried to stifle a cry, not believing what she was hearing. As long as she had been with Reisen, she considered the moon rabbit to be one of her closest friends. The idea of some strange people running off with her best friend didn't appeal to her.

"Why?" asked Tewi.

"I don't know," spoke Eirin.

Another group of rabbits appeared from the forest, looking as though they had something urgent to say.

"Are there more of them?" asked Eirin.

"Let me at them!" shouted Tewi.

"No, it's not those men. I saw a group with Lady Yukari heading here," spoke one of the rabbits.

"Yukari? Who else was with her?" asked Eirin.

"That vampire from before, the witch, Reimu, and some other people I've never seen before," spoke the other rabbit.

"So, Yukari has become involved in this now?" asked Eirin.

Yukari, Ran, Chen, Reimu, Marisa, Mima, Suika, Rumia, Cirno, Dai, Meiling, Patchouli, Sakuya, Remilia, Flandre, and Genichiro were flying through the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, making their way for Eientei. The group had no knowledge of what had taken place there as they were making their way for the mansion. They stopped when they found an injured rabbit out near the mansion.

"Looks like those two immortals managed to get someone caught up in one of their feuds," spoke Reimu.

"You'd think they could be a little more careful," spoke Marisa.

"It wasn't Mokou and Kaguya," spoke Yukari.

"What makes you so sure?" asked Reimu.

"In the history of their rivalry, they've _never _brought harm to a third party. If they ever did, I would step in and put an end to their fighting myself," explained Yukari.

"You would be the only one capable of breaking up their ongoing struggle," spoke Marisa.

"Why would someone attack one of the rabbits?" asked Remilia.

"We may as well ask her," spoke Yukari, as she used her healing spell on the rabbit. The rabbit stirred a little, then looked at the group before her.

"La-Lady Yukari," spoke the rabbit.

"Who attacked you?" asked Yukari, fearing the answer.

"It... it was this group of people..." spoke the rabbit.

"In strange armor?" asked Yukari.

"Yeah," replied the rabbit.

"How many?" asked Yukari.

"About seventy," replied the rabbit.

"That's impossible! There's no way they could replenish their numbers like that. No method of cloning exists that could pull that off!" shouted Genichiro.

"It's safe to assume they do indeed have that level of technology," replied Yukari.

"What's going on? Why did they attack us?" asked the rabbit.

"We don't know. We hope to find out," spoke Reimu.

"We should get going. If they're still there, we need to help them out," spoke Sakuya, "I can slow time for us while we approach. It should allow us a chance to surprise them."

Everyone agreed, while Sakuya performed the necessary spell before the group resumed their course for Eientei, the youkai rabbit they found joining them. As the group continued, they ran into the area the first battle took place. The ground was badly scarred. Clumps of dirt and been thrown into the air from the battle. It looked like the ground exploded at one point. The group found a damaged drone lying on the ground to prove the point. Upon seeing this, the group continued onward. When they arrived, they found Eirin and Tewi, along with Kaguya looking over the damage to the mansion. When they noted there were no armored men in the area, Sakuya ended her time manipulation spell. The group's sudden appearance startled the two Lunarians and rabbit, which gave way to relief at seeing the group.

"Ah, I doubt they would come back here if they knew all of you were here," spoke Eirin.

"What happened?" asked Yukari.

"Those armored men. The vampire and her group told me of them. We were prepared for them, believing they would come here at some point. Looks like I was right. I'm not sure if they were here for the princess, or if they happened to come here believing there was something worthwhile for them here. Either way, they attempted to take the princess with them when arrived. We were able to drive them off. Tewi is still looking for a few of her fellow rabbits who were left behind in the forest where they staged an ambush," spoke Eirin.

"I'm okay. I didn't see any of the others," spoke the rabbit Yukari's group found.

"Thank goodness," spoke Tewi, not wanting to lose anymore friends.

"Tewi? What's wrong?" asked Reimu.

Tewi had been crying since she found out Reisen had been taken. She was upset to the point that she was having trouble trying to find the other rabbits.

"They took Reisen," spoke Eirin.

"I see," spoke Reimu.

"They took crazy eyes? Alright then, let's go and beat them up, ze!" shouted Marisa.

"We will soon enough, dear. Let us not forget why we came here to begin with," spoke Yukari.

"So you were coming here for a reason?" asked Eirin.

"Is your lab intact?" asked Yukari.

"Most of the mansion is in perfect condition. Those men didn't get too far into here. They fell for the trap we had set here before during the moon incident," replied Kaguya.

"Went to the wrong room? Not too bright, are they?" asked Marisa.

"You have something belonging to them?" asked Eirin.

"That's one way to put it," spoke Reimu.

"I'd like to see for myself. Follow me," spoke Eirin.

Yukari's group, along with Tewi and Kaguya followed along. Eirin led the group to her lab.

"So, what did you need to show me in my lab?" asked Eirin.

Yukari opened up a gap, producing the five frozen armored men. Even though they were still frozen, Eirin and Tewi could still recognize the form. Eirin noted they were without their helmets and that they all looked the same.

"Now that's interesting," spoke Eirin.

"We don't know why they are all alike. They similarity doesn't end with their appearance. They even smell the same. If you mixed them up, even I wouldn't be able to tell them apart," spoke Genichiro.

"Hmm... you're dressed like the one from before," spoke Eirin.

"I am; this is my youkai form," replied Genichiro.

"I see. As much as I'd like to ask you about it, I would like to look at these people at once. The more I can learn about them and their technology, the better. I may need to enlist the aid of the Kappa. If that's the case, it'll take me a little longer," spoke Eirin.

"Don't worry about time," spoke Sakuya, "We will rescue Reisen.

"I was hoping you would," spoke Eirin.

"I wouldn't mind giving those people a black eye, just because," spoke Remilia.

"Being captured by those people is not fun. I don't want someone else to have to go through that, too," spoke Flandre.

"Take me with you! I want to beat them up so bad! No one hurts my friends and gets away with it!" shouted Tewi.

"I just want to put an end to this before things get too out of hand. I would have rather learned a little more about them before just going in and attacking them, but it would seem that time is against us," spoke Yukari.

"I would much rather use my abilities to help someone rather than wait around here," spoke Sakuya.

"I understand. I'll try to have something for you by the time you get back," spoke Eirin.

"Thank you for your assistance. I would go with you, but I can't risk allowing them to get a hold of me," spoke Kaguya.

"What are you worried about? You're immortal, aren't ya?" asked Marisa.

"It's not that simple," spoke Mima.

"Eh? What do you mean?" asked Marisa.

"If you don't know, you don't need to know," spoke Eirin.

"Agreed," spoke Yukari.

"There are some things that should remain a secret," spoke Kaguya.

"Meh, I'll figure it out eventually," replied Marisa.

"Well, I don't suppose you have the one that froze these people, do you?" asked Eirin.

"I'm here!" shouted Cirno.

"I'll need to look after them one by one. I don't suppose you could stay here to help, could you?" asked Eirin.

"I don't mind. We can stay and help, right Dai?" asked Cirno.

"Oh, sure," replied Dai, not wanting to get into another fight with the armored men.

"Did you see where they went?" asked Sakuya.

"I didn't; they set up an explosive of some kind at the door of the mansion while I was chasing them. I didn't get a chance to see them after that," spoke Eirin.

"It's a safe bet they went back to that place under the lake," spoke Genichiro.

"I would think so, too," spoke Yukari.

"I see. I wish you all luck. Be careful," spoke Eirin.

"And if you see Mokou, tell her to be careful," spoke Kaguya.

"Huh?" asked Reimu.

"Wait, you're worried about Mokou?" asked Marisa.

"Life would be boring if I didn't have her to kill every now and then. Besides, we all lose if they get a hold of her," replied Kaguya.

"I see. I will make sure to tell her," spoke Reimu.

"Good luck," spoke Eirin.

"That's why I'm going with them. I am good luck, after all," spoke Tewi.

The group departed the mansion of Eientei, while Eirin had Cirno unfreeze one of the bodies. Cirno made sure to do it slowly, so as not to damage the body. The group kept an eye out for other armored men and Mokou, finding neither close to Eientei.

Under Misty Lake, Jin and his men were returning with Reisen in tow.

"That did not go as I planned," muttered Jin, as he and his group descended into the base, the opening closing behind them.

"_At least I was able to get the rabbit with the special eyes. Might even be able to get some more information out of her on this princess,"_ thought Jin, as he and his men went separate ways. Jin made his way for one of the labs with a holding cell machine, placing Reisen within one of the spherical cages. This machine was different from the others. There was a chair within the cage, with several tools extended out on arms, set to serve many purposes that could not readily be surmised based on their appearance. Reisen was strapped to this chair, followed by Jin closing the cage.

"Find another?" asked a scientist in the room.

"Yes. This one has special eyes, capable of distorting light and sound waves. She had us convinced she was in front of us several times, even though she had been in hiding. While her technique can be seen through by our scanners, one would have to know to use them to begin with," explained Jin.

"I see. That convincing of an illusion, is it? That would make for a handy ability. I'll get to work on the initial analysis right away," spoke the scientist.

"Do make it quick; we may have guests in the near future, and there is much I would like to attend to before then," replied Jin, as he departed. Jin made his way for another lab. Within this room were several glass chambers large enough to hold a regular sized person. All of them were filled with a bright, greenish fluid, obscuring what was held within. A pair of scientists were busy working on the computers connected to the machines.

"S-zero-one, what is the status of Experiment zero-zero-alpha?" asked Jin.

"We have successfully integrated the samples of the vampire and two fairies. We are still working on our analysis of the samples from the miko and border youkai. The border youkai's sample is proving to be most difficult to deal with," replied S-zero-one.

"I would expect as much from the one reputed to be the most powerful in the land. What of their personalities?" asked Jin.

"Unstable; I wouldn't be able to say for sure which of the personalities integrated would surface. It could be the most dominant, it could be a combination. We are still working on a method for programming a loyal personality," replied S-zero-one.

"As much as I would expect. Are they combat ready?" asked Jin.

"Combat ready? Not with their personalities as they are. They could do anything to anyone once released. They could attack the enemy, us, or any random being. Maybe even each other," spoke S-zero-one.

"Never mind their personalities; can they fight or can't they?" asked Jin.

"If you ignore their personalities, then yes, they could be made ready to fight. Their forms could be finalized within a half hour," replied S-zero-one.

"Do it. Prepare to evacuate to Mountain Base. This place has become too much of a liability to maintain, now that it's location has become known," spoke Jin.

"Very well, but I can't make any promises on the effectiveness of Ex-zero-zero-alpha. If they end up attacking each other, they'll be rendered useless," explained S-zero-one.

"If at least a few of them attack those coming here, then they'll be able to buy some time. That's all I care about at this point. If they're able to fight at all, then I would call the first phase of this experiment a success," replied Jin.

"I see. I'll take care of it, then," spoke S-zero-one, as he entered a series of commands into his computer console. Jin smiled as he made his way back to the room holding Reisen. One of his leaders approached him en-route.

"Commander Hiodoshi!" shouted the man.

"Yes, what is it, Zero-one-one?" asked Jin.

"Zero-one-three has led a mission to capture the youkai known as Kazami Yuka," replied Zero-one-one.

"Kazami Yuka?" asked Jin.

"We learned she is one of the more powerful beings of this land, said to be comparable in power to Yakumo Yukari. Apparently, she has the ability to manipulate flowers, which, while seemingly innocent, renders her as a force of nature itself," explained Zero-one-one.

"I see. How many did he take with him?" asked Jin.

"A squad of thirty. There are few who visit the place regularly, and there is but one guard heading a staff of weak youkai," spoke Zero-one-one.

"I see. Let me know when you hear back from them," spoke Jin, as he continued to his destination. Within the room, the scientist there was completing his initial scan of Reisen.

"Have you taken a sample yet?" asked Jin, as he entered.

"I have; I did so right before I initialized the scans. It would seem that she has one more ability in addition to those connected to her eyes. It would appear she also has access to a form of telepathy, though it appears to be limited. It may only work for those of her own kind. Whether this can be adapted or not will take time. I've set it up as an additional experiment to be carried out after those done with her eyes are complete," explained the scientist.

"Very well, S-one-six. You may continue your work elsewhere. I have something special planned for this one," spoke Jin.

"I thought as much, hence why I took the sample right away. I will continue my work in lab Three-A," replied S-one-six.

"There is no need for that right now. S-zero-one will begin evacuation preparations soon. I would advise you to start transferring your research materials to Mountain Base now," spoke Jin.

"Very well, it will be taken care of," spoke S-one-six, as he departed the lab.

"Now then, it's time to wake up," spoke Jin, as he activated one of the tools alongside the chair Reisen was place on. The tool had a needle point attached to a tube, injecting Reisen with the selected chemical. Reisen awoke with a start, struggling to break free upon realizing her situation.

"I wouldn't bother, dear. With the power suppressors placed on your person, you won't be going anywhere for the time being. Not even those pretty little eyes of yours will do you any good," spoke Jin.

"Who are you? What do you want? And why am I here!" shouted Reisen.

"Please do well to mind your manners, rabbit. I can make your life as pleasant or torturous as I will. I can assure you it would be unwise to upset me," spoke Jin.

"Let me go!" shouted Reisen, as she resumed her struggle to set herself free. Jin flipped a switch, sending a current of electricity running through Reisen's body. The rabbit shrieked in pain as a result. Jin only activated the charge for a moment, illustrating his point to the youkai before him.

"Now then, as for your questions, I am Commander Hiodoshi Jin. What I want is rather simple; control of this world and the one I originated from, as well as all the other worlds of the multiverse. As for why you are here, I wish to make a copy of your abilities in order to develop it into a weapon that will allow me to realize my goal," spoke Jin.

"Why would you want such a thing? You'll never succeed. The people of Gensokyo are strong; they won't let you get away with this," replied Reisen.

"Oh, is that so? I've managed to defeat that shrine maiden, and nearly killed the border youkai. I only lost due to unforeseen circumstances. If I can do it once, I can do it again at any time. They do not possess the ability to stop me. Even if all the beings of this land attempted to oppose me, I would take care of them with the members of my group," explained Jin.

"How many people do you have?" asked Reisen.

"Oh? Interesting question. As many as I need. It's not a set number; I can have, at any time, any number of followers I want. I don't have to worry about how many that is. I could, at any time, have as many as a hundred to a thousand, if I so desired," replied Jin.

"How is that possible?" asked Reisen.

"Sorry, that's all you get for free. Now I want some information. Tell me, what is the full size of the staff of Eientei?" asked Jin.

"There is no staff," replied Reisen.

"So those rabbits were just your own personal illusion?" asked Jin.

"It worked, too," spoke Reisen.

Reisen shrieked as Jin sent another charge through her body.

"Please don't lie to me. How many of those rabbits are there?" asked Jin.

"I... don't know... I'm not in charge of them," replied Reisen.

"I see. I believe I should tell you this now; you are attached to a lie detector. It can tell me if you're lying or not, even how much you're lying to a certain degree. Surely you must have an estimate of how many there are," spoke Jin.

"I don't know," replied Reisen.

Reisen shrieked again as another charge was sent through her body.

"How many? Fifty? A hundred? A thousand? Maybe a few hundred?" asked Jin.

"I don't know," spoke Reisen.

"Oh, but you do, and you've already told me. There are a few hundred. That's good to know for the next time," spoke Jin.

"There's well over a thousand," spoke Reisen, before shrieking again at another charge.

"Your heart rate changed at a few hundred. That told me all I needed to know. Please don't try to lie to me after the truth has been revealed," replied Jin.

Reisen panted from the pain she had been put through. She knew she had to remain strong, so that she wouldn't sell out the ones she had come to know as her family.

"Now then, tell me about the princess," spoke Jin.

"There is no princess," spoke Reisen.

Jin frowned before hitting Reisen with another charge of electricity.

"What is her ability?" asked Jin.

"Gracing the world with her beauty," spoke Reisen.

Jin increased the power of the charge he sent through Reisen's body, making her scream louder than she had been. Reisen's panting became more pronounced after Jin finished.

"What is her ability? What makes her so unique? Surely you must know something. No one gains political power in this land without some kind of force to back it up, so what is hers?" asked Jin.

"Space travel from here to the moon," spoke Reisen.

Jin turned the charge on his machine to maximum, making Reisen shriek loud enough so that her yells could be heard down the corridor just beyond the room she was in. Jin stopped only when her heart rate began to fluctuate. Reisen panted again, before putting on a look of determination.

"I'll never tell you anything!" shouted Reisen, "I'll never sell out my family to you!"

"Oh, such spirit. Well, I could change that quite easily if I wanted. I could inject you with a drug that would make you tell me everything I wanted to know, and you're mind would do little to stop me. However, that would be much too easy, too lenient. I don't take too kindly to liars, nor do I appreciate those unwilling to cooperate. Most of all, I hate youkai. All youkai. I plan to exterminate the lot of you when I'm through. Your usefulness ends with your special abilities. I'm not going to use a drug to get my information, I'm going to use something else," spoke Jin, as he opened the cage door. Jin pulled out a knife, pointing it at Reisen.

"Now then, tell me about this princess. I want to know everything there is to know about her, including how to capture her, preferable alive," spoke Jin.

"I won't," spoke Reisen.

Jin plunged the knife into Reisen's left shoulder, drawing another scream from the rabbit. Unlike the charges from before, the pain remained after Jin withdrew the knife, now dripping with Reisen's blood.

"What do you know?" asked Jin.

"I don't know anything. They don't let me near the princess," replied Reisen.

Jin frowned before punching Reisen in the face. With his armored suit on, the punch hurt more than that of any regular punch. Reisen's face was bruised, a couple of her teeth fell out from the hit.

"What do you know?" asked Jin.

"I've never even met her before," spoke Reisen.

Jin delivered several blows to Reisen's midsection, stopping only when the rabbit began to cough up blood.

"What do you know!" shouted Jin, his anger increasing at Reisen's resilience.

"I have to ask my master first," replied Reisen.

Jin continued his assault upon Reisen, her screams echoing throughout the corridor. Those walking by listened with grim curiosity before moving on to their own tasks. For a half hour, Jin tortured Reisen to get information out of her, going back and forth between beating, cutting, and electrocuting her. Reisen continued to refuse, her resolve growing stronger with each injury she sustained. By the time Jin was done, Reisen was a bloody mess. Most of her outfit was red from the gashes caused by Jin's knife. Reisen's neck was covered in a combination of blood and vomit. One of her eyes was closed from the bruising. Jin had also ripped out the button on Reisen's left ear, resulting in it bleeding. Reisen's nose was clearly broken and bleeding. Jin ultimately was forced to use a truth serum. It took the maximum dose to get the information he desired.

"So, you say she is heavily guarded, placed within a maze consisting of several traps when the mansion is under attack. And many times this princess, Kaguya, has been seen quarreling with someone?" asked Jin.

"Fujiwara no... Mokou. Another... immortal..." muttered Reisen.

"Another immortal? What are her abilities?" asked Jin.

"Manipulation of fire... for danmaku... and hand to hand..." muttered Reisen.

"And how well is she guarded?" asked Jin.

"She freely wanders the Bamboo Forest of the Lost... near Eientei. She sometimes visits the Human Village... to see her friend... she has no formal guard... sometimes her friend looks after her..." muttered Reisen.

"And this friend is?" asked Jin.

"Kamishirasawa Keine... a were-hakutaku... she can manipulate history..." muttered Reisen.

"Oh? In what..."

Jin was interrupted by the sound the alarm going off.

"Already? Before I could gouge her eyes out? Well, it would seem that fortune may be on your side after all," spoke Jin.

An armored man rushed into the lab Jin was in. He appeared to have been in a battle of some kind.

"One-three-seven! What happened!" shouted Jin.

"Kazami Yuka... she wiped out our squad! I was the only one left. I was barely able to get her sample. We were unable to capture her, commander. We underestimated her!" shouted One-three-seven.

"What is happening outside?" asked Jin.

"She followed me back. I was barely able to get in here before she forced her way in!" shouted One-three-seven.

"You led her here?" asked Jin.

"I had no choice! I had to deliver the sample!" shouted One-three-seven.

"She can't get in here on her own, prepare to evacuate," spoke Jin. As he spoke a dull bang could be heard.

"What is that?" asked Jin.

"I don't know," replied One-three-seven.

Another bang could be heard, followed by others in a somewhat regular interval.

"What kind of monster did you bring here?" asked Jin.

"The deadly kind," replied One-three-seven.

"_We're on the second level, and yet I can hear her assault? This place is constructed of titanium reinforced concrete. She shouldn't be able to cause this level of damage!"_ thought Jin, as he scrambled to take care of his part of the evacuation.

Above the base, Yuka was using her version of Master Spark. Yuka herself was having what she considered to be her version of a bad day. She had spent the previous night in a field with flowers that only bloomed in the moonlight, shown to her by Wriggle. After a long night enjoying the special field, Yuka returned to her mansion, now established near the Garden of the Sun. After an early morning flower viewing, she went off to sleep, leaving her guard Elly in charge. Her peaceful sleep was interrupted when a battered Elly raced into her room, telling her some strange people wearing armored outfits were attacking her mansion. Yuka quickly dressed and made her way to the foyer of her mansion to see the armored men striking down her staff left and right. Yuka approached them to ask what they thought they were doing there. They told Yuka they wanted to take her with them. Before they could finish making their point, Yuka had already struck down several of the men in front of her, and forced them back outside of her mansion. The armored men tried to fight her back, one getting close enough to hit her with some kind of sword. Striking her only served to further enrage her. Yuka had brought the field of flowers before her mansion to life, rising out of the ground and striking down those too foolish to realize the threat the flowers posed to them. Those not crushed by Yuka's assault with the flowers received the pleasure of being victims of Yuka's Dual Spark. The few survivors ran, with Yuka in pursuit. Yuka tore down those nearest to her. The only factor saving the other armored men was Yuka's speed. While she wasn't the slowest youkai, she was a far cry from the fastest. She was still able to keep pace with the armored men, throwing danmaku their way as they continued to flee. Yuka was able to take out all but one as they approached the base below Misty Lake. The man hastily made his way in, making sure the door closed quickly behind him. It was then Yuka began taking our her anger on the metal chamber. She had completely annihilated the entrance, causing that part of the base to flood. She continued her assault, leading up to her current point.

"Come out of there!" shouted Yuka, as she fired off another Master Spark. When Yuka noticed her attacks weren't doing enough, she pulled out another of her spell cards.

"Blue Sign 'Sapphire Beam!" shouted Yuka. Yuka held her hands out in front of her, charging her energy. Yuka then shot out a beam twice the size of Master Spark, rushing through the water, and slamming into the building hidden below. Yuka continued her attack over and over again, waiting for someone to come out to answer for what they had done to her. Yuka stopped when she noted another group approaching. She was tempted to hit them with one of her attacks, even after she saw it was Reimu and Yukari leading the group.

"Yuka? What are you doing here?" asked Reimu.

"The rats hiding here attacked me. I'm here to punish them," replied Yuka.

"So they did go after you. It's not surprising they would try," spoke Yukari.

"You all know what's going on, don't you?" asked Yuka.

"The short version is yes, and we're here to stop them," spoke Reimu, "the long version can wait until later."

"Yeah, we have to save Reisen!" shouted Tewi.

"Oh? Know the way in?" asked Yuka.

"There's a chamber that rises from the lake," replied Marisa.

"Did it look like that?" asked Yuka, while pointing to scraps of metal thrown about from when she destroyed the chamber.

"What did you do?" asked Reimu.

"Attempt to get their attention. I'm going to keep going until I get someone to come out of there," replied Yuka.

"Great, now how are we going to get in?" asked Marisa.

"Have you forgotten who you're traveling with?" asked Yukari.

"Huh? Oh... oh joy," replied Marisa.

"Ah, yes, that ability of yours would come in handy right about now," spoke Yuka.

"Let me see... my, my, there's a lot of water down there... oh, there we go," spoke Yukari, as she opened a large gap in front of her.

"Shall we?" asked Yukari.

Yuka went in without hesitation, ready to take her assault directly to the ones who caused her problems, with the others following close behind. The group arrived the find the place they were in deserted. The red alarm lights were flashing in some spots, while there were sparks flying in the places damaged from Yuka's attacks. Yukari had to take them to the second level, as the first level was completely flooded.

"You did this, ze!" asked Marisa.

"No one makes me angry and gets away with it for too long," replied Yuka, as she looked down the corridor.

"There's no one here at all. You would think they would be all over the place at a time like this," spoke Genichiro.

"I would think so, as well. Something doesn't feel right, here," spoke Sakuya.

At that moment, one of the chambers before the group opened up. What came out wasn't an armored man or scientist, but something else, what appeared to be a girl. The girl was about the height of a teenager, with one red eye, one blue eye, mostly blond hair with streaks of red and blue, and pale skin. She was dressed in a blue vest and white blouse with a yellow ribbon, a pink mop hat with a green ribbon, and a red dress with pale blue frills at the bottom hiding brown shoes. The feature that grabbed everyone's attention were her wings, made of iron with ice crystal prisms alternating with small flames stemming from them.

"Those wings are like mine," spoke Flandre.

The girl made a disturbing smile before holding her hand out in front of her, appearing to hold it over those before her.

"Move!" shouted Yukari, Reimu, Sakuya, Remilia, and Genichiro.

The group dispersed as an explosion appeared behind them. The girl in front of them let out insane laughter at the prospect of missing her target.

"What just happened?" asked Marisa.

"Did she just try to 'kyuu' us?" asked Flandre.

"It would seem so. From her appearance, it would seem she has your abilities, Cirno's abilities, and that fire fairy's abilities," spoke Remilia.

"You've got to be joking," spoke Marisa.

At that point, nine more of the girls showed up, all of them looked the same.

"More of them? Hmm... huh?" spoke Genichiro.

Genichiro didn't have time to explain what he felt was off before the girls started throwing barrages of fire and ice danmaku towards the group. One of the girls put her hands together before making a flame thrower with her ability, moving the deadly beam around with no regard for what she hit. She even managed to hit the wings of one of the other girls. The group did their best to move out of the way, though they found it difficult to do within the confines of the corridor.

"Alright, time to fight fire with fire, ze!" shouted Marisa, as she pulled out her mini-hakkero.

"Yes, it's time to clear the path," spoke Mima.

"Oh, you two are going to do that? Might as well make it a triple," spoke Yuka, a sadistic grin on her face.

"Never made one that large... let's do it!" shouted Marisa, a grin on her face.

Mima and Yuka placed their hands next to the mini-hakkero, preparing to make the largest spark they have ever made.

"Hit the deck!" shouted Genichiro, as he realized what was about to happen. Everyone ducked at the sight of the bright sphere of energy forming in the hands of the three girls. Even the strange girls attacking the group stared on in awe for a moment.

"Magicannon 'Triple Final Master Spark!" shouted Yuka, Mima, and Marisa.

The entire corridor before the group was filled with light, leaving no room for the monsters before them to move. Their shrieks could be heard as they were hit with the beam, followed by a several explosions. The entire corridor was filled with light, then it was filled with dust and debris. After the dust settled down, everyone got back up to see what had happened. The corridor before the group was completely destroyed, collapsed from the power of the beam the three girls fired. Only three of the strange girls survived, though they were all missing limbs. One was just a head. The three began to regenerate in front of the group. The one with only a missing arm was the first to resume her attack.

"I've had enough of just watching. Time to see if I've still got it. Night Sign "Roaring Phoenix!" shouted Rumia. Blue danmaku spread out from around Rumia, forming a pair of wings. The danmaku were spaced out like pixels, making up the image. Rumia appeared to flap the winds, sending the two fields of danmaku in direction of the strange girls. The two fields split off from Rumia, moving towards one another, crossing over one another in the middle. In addition, Rumia set up a spread of red, human-sized danmaku, fired off in a straight lines in a sweeping pattern from right to left, then left to right. A third spread of human sized danmaku came in the form of two sweeping streams at the same time, both opposite of one another. The one girl who was attacking was hit, as though she didn't even think about dodging the shots. The other two were hit, but not as bad, since they were using some kind of barrier while they were regenerating. Rumia avoided the shots fired back to her in the form of a mix of ice crystals and fireballs. Rumia continued her spell until it timed out, looking at the form of her opponent. Her target appeared to be severely injured, yet continued to wear a twisted grin as she continued. She soon began to regenerate again.

"Alright, try this one! Darkness Sign: "Crescent Moon Blade!" shouted Rumia, as she pulled out her sword. Rumia began swinging it, producing danmaku in the shape crescents. Each swing produced a fast moving barrage, sent in the direction of her opponent. The girl continued to attack, despite being hit. After a couple of swings, Rumia threw her sword out towards the girl, making it spin as it moved in a loop. While the sword was moving, it continued to fire out crescent bursts. When it returned to Rumia's hand, she continued the pattern. Rumia kept it up for a couple of minutes, until the spell ended. One again, the girl before her regenerated. As the girl finished regenerating, she let out a loud shriek before her form crumbled away.

"I see, looks like they can only do that a set number of times before they are no longer able to come back," spoke Rumia.

"Oh? Good, because I want to play a little more with them," spoke Yuka, as she prepared to target the next girl that had finished regenerating.

"Flower Sign: 'Spring Bloom!'" shouted Yuka. Yuka fired out several human-sized danmaku in the direction of the reformed girl. The girl didn't have too hard a time dodging them. After the bullets were a set distance from Yuka, each one burst into a flower pattern of smaller danmaku bursting forth. As more of the bullets bloomed into flowers, the patterns from the different bullets began to intersect with one another, resulting in a pattern the winged girl had much more difficulty in avoiding. Yuka continued the attack, hitting the girl several times as the danmaku flowers filled the space before her. The winged girl shrugged off each hit as she fired off a barrage of fire danmaku in the direction of Yuka. The flower youkai smiled as she moved out of the path of the bullets. At the end of Yuka's spell, the winged girl was still able to regenerate, prompting Yuka to pull out another of her spell cards.

"Flower Sign 'Colliding Bloom!'" shouted Yuka. After Yuka's declaration, a second Yuka appeared and surrounded the winged girl on each side. Each Yuka fired out a wave of small danmaku. The winged girl moved around each of the bullets, not being prepared for what happened when the bullets collided. At the points where the patterns of the two Yukas collided, a flower pattern spread of bullets came forth, catching the winged girl by surprise. The two Yukas moved around the winged girl, staying opposite of each other, and continued firing out bullets that made flowers when the bullets of one struck the bullets of the other. The winged girl was beat up more by the attack, and fired out a spread of fire bullets out of frustration at both yukas, who easily shrugged off the attack. At the end of Yuka's spell, the other Yuka disappeared, leaving a single smiling Yuka behind.

"My my, still going? Then allow me to show you another trick," spoke Yuka, "Flower Sign 'Blooming Spark!'" Yuka fired out a constant wave of small, flower petal danmaku, while a pair of half-human-sized danmaku appeared, one on each side of Yuka. The pair of danmaku at Yuka's side moved towards her target. As they moved, five beams grew off of the danmaku, showing that the spark flowers were spinning as they made their way for their target. After the first pair were close to the winged girl, another pair appeared, spaced apart differently than the first pair. The spark flowers continued to appear in combination with the wave of flower petal danmaku. The winged girl found it difficult to deal with the spark flowers, resulting in her either being hit by one of the flowers, or one of the flower petal danmaku. The winged girl was hit directly with one of the spark flowers, pushing her past the limit of her ability to regenerate, resulting in her disintegrating into ashes.

The last winged girl had finished regenerating after that point. After seeing her "sisters" be defeated, she sent out a random barrage of fire and ice bullets at those before her, hoping she would succeed in hitting someone. Everyone easily avoided the crazed barrage with Genichiro moving forward to challenge the girl.

"Alright, little lady, I think enough is enough. Spirit Sign 'Wolf's Rage!'" shouted Genichiro. Genichiro held his sword straight up in front of him, concentrating on his spell. As Genichiro focused, magic circles appeared at random around the winged girl, each firing a small spread of danmaku at the winged girl. The number of circles that appeared at the same time increased throughout the spell, resulting in the spread patterns of each circle intersecting with one another. At first, the winged girl was able to avoid the bullets fired at her, but towards the end of the spell, she quickly became overwhelmed, taking a few hits from the barrage thrown at her.

"Well, that was a nice little warm up. Now try this one, Wolf Sign 'Wolf Pack!'" shouted Genichiro. Genichiro fired out a burst of human-sized gray danmaku with four blue fang danmaku surrounding each. The burst was aimed straight at the winged girl, who moved out of the way. The burst stopped at the girl's previous position, then made their way for her next position. As the bullets moved, they were spinning. In addition to the danmaku following the winged girl, Genichiro fired out a wave of red fang danmaku alternating with crescent danmaku coming from his sword. The winged girl was caught off guard by Genichiro's wave, taking a hit from it while moving to avoid the burst chasing after after. The "pack" of danmaku continued to chase the strange girl through the field of bullets created by Genichiro, with the danmaku chasing her spinning faster as the spell continued. The winged girl appeared to be out of breath by the end of the spell.

"I suppose it's time to end this, then. Spirit Sign 'Streaming Tear!'" shouted Genichiro. Genichiro threw his sword in the direction of his target while firing off a wave of fang danmaku. As his sword moved, it left behind a trail. Genichiro fired off another wave while he moved to the side, summoning his sword to the point he was heading towards. His sword continued to leave a trail behind it. When Genichiro caught his sword, the trails split off into bursts of fang danmaku, while Genichiro fired off another wave of his own. As the waves were ending, Genichiro threw his sword again to repeat the process. The winged girl was quickly overwhelmed by the number of danmaku, taking several hits while furiously trying to hit Genichiro with her own barrage of danmaku. At the end of the spell, the winged girl was severely worn, no longer able to fight, but not beaten enough to disintegrate. The girl fell to the ground from fatigue at the end. She saw Remilia, then started to crawl towards her.

"Remilia... onee-chan..." muttered the winged girl, "help me... it hurts..."

Remilia looked on with shock. The girl's voice sounded close to Flandre's, with a couple of others mixed in.

"Onee-chan... it hurts..." muttered the winged girl, as she continued to crawl towards Remilia.

"I'm not your sister!" shouted Remilia, "Divine Spear 'Spear the Gungnir!" Remilia formed a spear of danmaku in her hand as the winged girl continued to cry out for her. Remilia threw the sphere at the girl, resulting in her turning to ash.

"What was that!" shouted Remilia.

"It looks like the result of everyone they've captured or gathered blood from," spoke Yukari.

"What?" asked Remilia.

"I see. They've been trying to put everyone's abilities into one being. I guess Flandre's personality must have been dominant," spoke Genichiro.

"These people... they truly are the most filthy beings I've even seen," spoke Remilia.

"There was something strange about these girls, though," spoke Genichiro.

"Which part? That fact that they resembled my sister? The fact that the one just called me her sister?" asked Remilia.

"No, they weren't exact copies; they were like identical siblings. Nearly identical in appearance, but still different. Whatever process made them was different from the process that replicated Kario," replied Genichiro.

"Why would the process be different?" asked Reimu.

"Who knows? We'll just have to beat them up and ask them," replied Marisa.

"As fun as that sounds, we did come here for a reason," spoke Mima.

"We need to find Reisen!" shouted Tewi.

"She was here not too long ago. At least I think it's her. It's the only scent that's different from the others," spoke Genichiro.

"Can you tell where she is?" asked Tewi.

"I can trace her path. Seems she was taken down that corridor... that these three conveniently destroyed," replied Genichiro.

"Okay, so we overdid it a little," spoke Marisa.

"A little?" asked Reimu.

"She wasn't in that area; her scent would have been stronger, I'm sure. She's likely further down," spoke Genichiro.

"Reisen is probably in the same place we found Flandre the last time we were here," spoke Sakuya.

"Where would that be?" asked Tewi.

"The sixth level," replied Sakuya.

"And the elevator was just blown to bits..." muttered Genichiro.

"Sixth level from the top? Okay then," spoke Yukari, as she opened up a gap.

"Yay for Lady Yukari!" shouted Flandre.

"Well... that's convenient," spoke Genichiro.

"It helps from time to time," replied Yukari.

The group made their way to the sixth level through Yukari's gap. Upon their arrival, they prepared to face a group of the armored men; however, once again, there was no one there to greet them.

"I hope there aren't any more of those strange girls here," spoke Marisa.

"I dunno, I kinda missed out on playing with them," spoke Suika.

"The scent leads this way," spoke Genichiro, as he led the group through the corridor. Everyone kept an eye out for any armored men as they continued. Genichiro stopped at a room near the end of the corridor.

"She's in here," spoke Genichiro.

"Strange," spoke Sakuya.

"How so?" asked Remilia.

"This is the room with the machine that makes portals," spoke Sakuya.

"You don't think they took her to Genichiro's world, do you?" asked Remilia.

"Let's hope they didn't," spoke Sakuya.

The group burst into the portal generator room. Once again, there was no one there, save for one person near the portal generator. The person was strapped to a chair, arms and legs bound and mouth covered.

"Reisen!" shouted Tewi, as she ran for her friend. The others followed behind the rabbit. When they saw Reisen, they looked on in disgust. Tewi herself looked about ready to cry at Reisen's appearance. Her wounds were still bleeding, even the button ripped out of her ear was left hanging on by a thread. Reisen appeared to be crying, while trying to say something to everyone. She looked to be in a panic, but all that could be heard was a mumble.

"I'll get you out of here!" shouted Tewi, as she removed the cloth covering Reisen's mouth.

"It's a trap!" shouted Reisen, tears streaming from her face.

No one else had time to respond as a barrage of black danmaku erupted from all sides, striking everyone. Rather than injuring everyone, they left behind power suppressors. A small bomb went off on the portal generator, appearing to damage it.

"Uh... why would damage their own device..." muttered Genichiro, as he struggled to his feet, along with the others. A new alarm sounded, along with a countdown appearing on the computer screen next to the portal generator.

"Overload in twenty seconds?" asked Marisa, as she read the screen. Yukari, Ran, and Genichiro knew the implications right away.

"Yukari!" shouted Genichiro.

Yukari struggled to open a gap, but found she couldn't with the power suppressors in place. Everyone tried to overload the suppressors on their bodies, but to no avail. As the computer reached zero, a bright light emerged from the portal generator. Everyone went wide eyed at the device that was about to seal their fate.

Above the waters of Misty Lake, a bright light shown from the beneath the surface. The waters were disturbed as a massive ball of fire and steam erupted from the lake, signifying the destruction of the building below.

In the Mountain Base of the armored men, Jin was looking over a readout on his armor's helmet display. The device showed the timer of the destruction of the Lake Base.

"Is it finished?" asked a feminine voice from the shadows.

"It is done, my lady," replied Jin, "The most powerful youkai in Gensokyo are now dead."


	9. Shrine

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

_A/N: Sorry for the long wait; I was sick for the past couple of weeks, and couldn't focus well enough to write; didn't intend to leave you all with that cliffhanger for this long. Hope this makes up for it!_

**Chapter 9 – Shrine**

"Seems I will need to see the Kappa," spoke Eirin, as she was conducting her study of the armored men. She had Cirno unfreeze all of them, comparing samples from each of them. Up to that point, every test she could do resulted in identifying the five as perfect copies of one another. Eirin tried to look over the technology in their outfits, but found herself unable to make any progress.

"I can go gather 'em!" shouted Cirno.

"I suppose," spoke Eirin, as she drafted a message to send to the Kappa, handing it to Cirno when she was done.

"Give this to them," spoke Eirin.

"Will do!" shouted Cirno, as she made her way towards Youkai Mountain.

"Wait up!" shouted Dai, knowing she would likely have to help Cirno in her little mission.

"Well, at least it will be a little more quiet with those two gone. It was starting to get a little difficult doing these tests with Cirno asking me why every few minutes," muttered Eirin.

"I have the tea you asked for," spoke Kaguya, as she entered the room.

"Oh, the princess bringing me tea?" asked Eirin.

"I was getting a little bored in my room, and I don't want to risk going anywhere for the time being. I saw the rabbit you asked, and figured I would join you, since I was in the mood for tea myself," replied Kaguya.

"I don't blame you. I couldn't sit down alone for so long with nothing to do," spoke Eirin.

"So, have you made any progress?" asked Kaguya.

"I haven't learned too much about them yet. I can tell for sure they are identical in every way possible, but I can't begin to guess at the process used to make this happen. I doubt I'll find the answer just be looking over these bodies. I'm hoping there may be some answer in the armor these people are wearing," explained Eirin.

"I see. Hopefully we can learn something about these people," spoke Kaguya, "I somewhat doubt these men will be driven off by my impossible requests."

"I sent those fairies out with a message for the Kappa. They should be able to help me study their technology. I doubt even the moon has technology this far advanced," replied Eirin.

"I would be disappointed if we found out our old society was involved in this," spoke Kaguya.

"Given how they've been acting so far, I find it unlikely, but we shouldn't dismiss the possibility until we have reason to do so," replied Eirin, as she reached for her cup of tea. Before Eirin could reach the cup, it cracked.

"Oh my," spoke Kaguya.

"I'm not one for superstitions, but I don't like the feeling that gave me," replied Eirin.

Out past the shores of Misty Lake, the fairies in the area were stirring about, scared of the large explosion that took place below the lake. None of them knew of what was going on, many thinking it was a sign of some great disaster. Others just did their best to get as far from the lake as possible, while others stared out, waiting to see what else would happen.

"What do you think that was?" asked a fairy wearing a green dress.

"I don't know," replied a fairy wearing a red dress.

"You think it has something to do with that vampire mansion?" asked the fairy in green.

"It might, I think I saw the vampires over here not too long ago," spoke the red fairy.

"Maybe we should get out of here. I don't want to be here if something bad is about to happen," replied the green fairy.

"Well... okay, yeah, we should get going," spoke the red fairy. Both fairies took off from the area, along with many of the others.

Marisa saw a void of black before her. She remembered seeing the explosion as it took place. She could have sworn she felt like she was ripped apart, before feeling nothing. It felt to her as though she was swimming in a sea of black.

"_Did I really die? I can't believe it! All the things I wanted to accomplish! I was going to become a youkai magician! I wanted to live for thousands of years, and I've barely made it past two decades. And I wanted to show up that Alice so bad! Now what am I going to do? Am I going to have to be judged by that Yama? The last thing I need is another lecture from her. It's not like I lie all the time. And it's not stealing, it's borrowing... oh great, I guess now everyone is going to take their stuff back. Well, not Patchouli, since she kind of died with us, but still, none of my stuff is safe. They might take some of my stuff just to get back at me. And then they'll steal all my spells. I can't believe this is happening!" _thought Marisa.

"I don't want to die!" shouted Marisa at the top of her lungs. Marisa felt immense pain from her head after her outburst. Marisa was beginning to think she had been sent to Hell.

"Shut up, you stupid witch!" came the voice of Remilia.

"Huh?" asked Marisa.

"You're still alive, somehow," spoke Reimu.

"What?" asked Marisa.

"Open your eyes, black-white nee," spoke Flandre.

"Eh? Oh," spoke Marisa. She opened her eyes to see the forest of magic. Everyone that had been in the room with her was there.

"Yukari? Remilia? Great, I really am in Hell!" shouted Marisa.

Remilia pounded Marisa on the head again to make clear the point that everyone was still alive and well.

"Satisfied that you're still amongst the living yet? I can send you on your way to the afterlife if you really want to go there so badly," spoke Remilia.

"No, I'm good," replied Marisa.

"Great," spoke Genichiro, who was shaking in place, looking about to collapse. Marisa turned to look at him, seeing something jump out to her.

"What happened to your hands, ze?" asked Marisa.

"I saved your hide, that's what happened," spoke Genichiro.

"You did? I thought it was Yukari? I know I saw one of her gaps open up," spoke Mima.

"It was, but even I lacked the power necessary to overload all of these," replied Yukari, while gesturing towards the power suppressors on her body, all of them burnt out, "Notice that those on Genichiro are also all burnt out."

Everyone noticed what Yukari said was true, the power suppressors on both Yukari and Genichiro were burnt out.

"How did you do that?" asked Flandre.

"Yeah, I can barely move with these things," spoke Reimu.

"I used my ability," replied Genichiro.

"You're ability?" asked Reimu.

"Ah, I see. That explains everything," replied Yukari.

"It does?" asked Marisa.

"Remember, my ability is manipulating energy," spoke Genichiro.

"What does that have to do with anything? You make that gap with it?" asked Marisa.

"No, I was only the power source," replied Genichiro.

"Eh?" asked Marisa.

"You used the power from the explosion to give Yukari enough power to overload her power suppressors and open the gap, right?" asked Mima.

"Yeah," replied Genichiro.

"So what happened to your hands?" asked Flandre.

"The same thing that would happen if I tried to use my ability in a danmaku fight. I can't convert the energy quickly enough to avoid injury. Small danmaku wouldn't be much of a problem, but I won't be able to catch a Master Spark anytime soon," replied Genichiro.

"Those are fun to play with!" shouted Flandre.

"How did you use the explosion?" asked Marisa.

"An explosion is just a mass release of energy," answered Patchouli, "If he can freely manipulate energy, he could manipulate the release from an explosion as well."

"I suppose we owe you on this one," spoke Ran.

"If Lady Yukari heals my hands, I'll call it even," replied Genichiro.

"I should tend to the rabbit first, her injuries are rather severe," spoke Yukari, while looking at a beat up Reisen.

Yukari took care of healing Reisen with her abilities while Genichiro started to remove the power suppressors from the others.

"There, she should be just fine once she wakes up," spoke Yukari to Tewi.

"Thank you so much, Lady Yukari," spoke Tewi, offering a hug to the youkai of boundaries for helping to save her friend. Yukari opted to return it, feeling a bit of humility after nearly losing her life.

"Hey, did you guys see that!" shouted a voice from the sky.

Everyone looked up to see the form of Shameimaru Aya descending to the ground.

"See what?" asked Flandre.

"Wow, so many of you in one place! That huge explosion, of course. You could see it from the mountain, I'm pretty sure you could see it from here. With all of you gathered, I'm sure you must know something. Don't be shy now, I'm sure someone wants to tell me about it," replied Aya.

"See the explosion, we almost _were_ the explosion!" shouted Genichiro.

"Did you really, Genichiro? Could you tell me more about it? Wait, Genichiro... G... g... gen... Genichiro!" shouted Aya, as she paled in the face.

"You know who I am already?" asked Genichiro, "Word really does travel fast around Gensokyo."

"Ah, Aya, my dear little Tengu, I believe we have a couple of things to discuss, _privately_, " spoke Yukari.

Aya nodded in response, taking a short walk away from the group with Yukari.

"_Of all the things that could happen... we should have went to the Tengu right away,"_ thought Ran.

"I wonder how long she's been following us? She must have been for a while to know my name like that," spoke Genichiro.

"She is a bit of a pest like that. You don't see her until it's too late," replied Marisa.

"She even fooled my sense of smell... well, that shouldn't be too surprising. She lives with the other Tengu, so she must have figured out a trick, or something," spoke Genichiro.

"Too bad you didn't know she was there; I wouldn't mind shooting her out of the sky," spoke Remilia.

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" asked Reimu.

"Not harsh enough, " replied Remilia.

"Is she really that bad?" asked Flandre.

"Bad isn't the word. More like... a bothersome itch you can't scratch," replied Patchouli.

"That's a good way to put it," spoke Marisa.

"_From the mouth of the itch _I_ can't scratch,"_ thought Patchouli.

"Can you hear what they're talking about?" asked Flandre.

"Can't hear a word; Yukari must have used a barrier to make sure no one could hear what they are saying," replied Genichiro.

After a few minutes, Yukari and Aya returned to the group. Aya appeared to be more relieved then she was before going off with Yukari.

"Well, it seems I need to escort Yukari here to Youkai Mountain. I'll have to save the report for later, think of something good to say when I come back," spoke Aya.

"We won't," replied Marisa.

"Ran, Chen, you stay with them for now. This is a personal matter," spoke Yukari.

"I understand, Yukari-sama. Be careful in your journey," replied Ran.

Yukari and Aya headed off towards Youkai Mountain, leaving the others behind.

"Huh, she's not using a gap today," spoke Reimu.

"Sometimes Yukari-sama does partake in the enjoyment of the sensation of flying. Even with as long as she's lived, she never tired of the feeling," explained Ran.

"Makes sense to me; after having been forced to live without my abilities over and over again, I can better appreciate them when I get them back," replied Genichiro.

"I love flying, I don't know what I would do if I couldn't fly," spoke Flandre.

"_It would make things easier if you couldn't fly off,"_ thought Remilia.

"What do we do now?" asked Marisa.

"Return to Eientei," replied Reimu, "We need to see what Eirin learned, right?"

"About that, now that we're done with this little mess, will someone finally explain to me what all is going on?" asked Yuka.

"We can tell you on the way. You are coming with us, right?" asked Reimu.

"I only want to find out what all of this is about. If it interests me, I might continue to tag along, no promises," replied Yuka.

"Fine fine, let's go," spoke Reimu.

The group of Reimu, Mima, Suika, Marisa, Yuka, Remilia, Flandre, Sakuya, Patchouli, Meiling, Tewi carrying Reisen, Ran, Chen, and Genichiro made their way for Eientei. They continued to look out for armored men, as well as Mokou to pass along their warning to her. They found neither as the made their return. Along the way, everyone explained the situation to Yuka, who decided to continue with the group for the time being, at least until she could see the bodies held at Eientei.

"Hey, they're back!" shouted one of the rabbits.

"Oh?" asked Eirin, as she and Kaguya went to see. The pair saw that Reisen was with them, relieved that she had been brought back in one piece.

"We got her back!" shouted Tewi, as she walked up to the mansion while still holding Reisen.

"Thank goodness," spoke Kaguya.

"How is she?" asked Eirin.

"She's just fine; she'll be asleep for a little while, though," replied Tewi.

"I see. Where did you find her?" asked Eirin.

"In that place below the lake," replied Tewi.

"If that's the case, she may have seen or heard something useful. We'll have to ask her when she regains consciousness," spoke Eirin.

"Did you find out anything about these people while we were gone?" asked Reimu.

"They are indeed perfect copies of one another. Not even a slight differences exists between the lot of them. Their physical conditioning is also perfect. The way their bodies are also suggests they have never used magic. As for their armored suits, I've sent out those fairies to gather assistance from the Kappa.

"When did you send them out?" asked Ran.

Not too long ago," replied Eirin.

"We should have run into them, right?" asked Marisa.

"Maybe they already passed us," spoke Reimu.

"That little fairy can move fast, though, I've only ever seen her move fast after I've seen Meiling to chase her off," spoke Remilia.

"I just hope she knows the way to Youkai Mountain. She isn't all that bright," replied Marisa.

"I did send the both of them to make sure it wouldn't be an issue," spoke Eirin.

"Let's hope they get back here soon," said Kaguya.

"What should we do while we wait?" asked Flandre.

"Well, Yukari never did fix my hands," spoke Genichiro.

"My, what happened to you?" asked Eirin.

"Well, we do have time, might as well," replied Genichiro.

While Eirin was treating Genichiro's wounds, the group explained what had taken place while they were rescuing Reisen. Eirin was shocked at the description of Reisen when they found her. Ran told Eirin of Yukari's healing spell to explain why Reisen looked perfectly normal. Eirin was interested in the strange girls the group ran into, and was stunned at hearing how everyone almost died when the base was destroyed.

"Sounds like you all had a rough time out there," spoke Kaguya.

"That's one way to put it," replied Reimu.

A few moments later, Cirno and Dai returned with Kawashiro Nitori.

"Hey, you're that Kappa from before!" shouted Remilia.

"You pissed off Remilia, ze? You might just become my new best friend!" shouted Marisa.

"I still feel bad about that," replied Nitori.

"You took certainly took your time," spoke Eirin.

"We were caught in this giant fire ball that came out of the lake! It was huge! And it hurt... a lot," replied Cirno.

"It came out of no where..." muttered Dai.

"Huh..." muttered several of those there, thinking of the irony behind that statement.

"So, these two told me about some strange armor people. Come to think of it, you told me something similar before," replied Nitori.

Remilia grunted at the comment, earning a slight grin from Marisa.

"Right over here," spoke Eirin, directing Nitori to the armored suits of the armored men. Eirin had to pull the bodies out in order to preserve them properly.

"Oh, these do look rather advanced. Damaged, but still. And there are five of them. I ought to be able to put together one complete suit with this many, assuming they all weren't disabled the same way," replied Nitori.

"As far as I could tell, they weren't all damaged the same way; you should be able to reconstruct a fully working suit using the parts from all five. It is really possible for you to do that?" asked Eirin.

"I'm not entirely sure on that; the parts may or may not be compatible," replied Nitori.

"I would think they would be. If they cloned the people in them, then they should be the same, too," spoke Genichiro.

"I would think the same," spoke Eirin.

"Clones?" asked Nitori, "Interesting. I take it these weren't made with magic?"

"I don't know for certain," replied Eirin.

"I think they were, but the original model wasn't," replied Genichiro.

"I see. I'll get to work on them right away. Do you have a place for me to work? The more space, the better," spoke Nitori.

"I believe we can accommodate you. Right this way," spoke Eirin, as she led Nitori to another part of the mansion. A small group of youkai rabbits carried the armored suits with them.

"I wonder if she really could find a way to put them back together," spoke Genichiro.

"I would like one of them if she could. I'm sure I could use one to make some strong magic with," spoke Marisa.

"I want nothing to do with those things," replied Remilia.

"While I detest these people for what they have done, I do find those outfits to be interesting. I'd at least like to see how one of them works," spoke Patchouli.

"You would, Patchy," replied Remilia.

"You can never have enough knowledge," spoke Patchouli.

"I don't know about that; there are some things that are better off unknown," replied Genichiro.

"In what sense?" asked Patchouli.

"Would you really want to know about what everyone in the world was doing, including the outside world? I can't speak for the world outside of here, but if it's like my world, then there could be any number of people out there who could destroy planet at a whim. Scary thought, really, but no one I knew really gave it that much thought. I suppose it was just so common a knowledge that no one really had to give it a second thought; a threat that became as natural as the sunshine," replied Genichiro.

"There is such a person here, if you must know. Lady Yukari could wipe out all of Gensokyo on a whim, should she choose to do so. Just as it is with the people of your world, though, no one here really gives it much thought," spoke Patchouli.

"Bah, that old hag couldn't make a village disappear, let alone all of Gensokyo, ze," replied Marisa.

"They have a saying for you; 'Ignorance is bliss,'" spoke Patchouli.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Marisa.

"Don't worry about it; it's not important," spoke Reimu.

"If you say so," replied Marisa.

"Uh... where am I?" came the voice of Reisen.

"Reisen! You're awake!" shouted Tewi.

"Huh? I'm alive?" asked Reisen.

The group gave a quick explanation of how Genichiro used his ability to give Yukari the power she needed to make a gap to get everyone out of the base before it exploded.

"I... see... but... how long have I been out?" asked Reisen.

"A couple of hours," replied Tewi.

"And yet I'm fully healed?" asked Reisen.

"Lady Yukari did it with her magic," replied Tewi.

"I see," spoke Reisen.

"Are you okay?" asked Tewi.

"I am. But... I think I did something terrible," spoke Reisen.

"What do you mean?" asked Tewi.

"They... they... they made me tell them about everyone!" shouted Reisen, while stifling back some tears.

"What did you tell them?" asked Kaguya.

"Everything about Eientei, where you are from, what your abilities are, how many rabbits are here, the traps you created to ward off intruders, everything," replied Reisen.

"It's okay, you were forced into it; no one here would blame you," spoke Kaguya.

"That's not the worst part. I ended up telling them about Mokou, as well. They could be going after her as we speak!" shouted Reisen.

"That's not good," replied Kaguya.

"Not good? It's terrible!" shouted Reimu, knowing the implications.

"They won't go after her, not yet, anyway," spoke Sakuya.

"What makes you so sure?" asked Kaguya.

"Location. They couldn't find Mokou without combing the entire forest, something that would certainly catch our attention. The only place she is known to go to is the Human Village to see Keine. As they appear to want to keep a low profile, they wouldn't go there, either. They would try to get to her after she went to the Human Village, a safe distance away. Keine knows about these people; she's likely already warned her of them," explained Sakuya.

"But she doesn't know they want to capture her. She's too stubborn to be worried about dying a couple times," replied Kaguya.

"We'll just have to make sure we run into her before they do," spoke Genichiro.

"And we will. You don't need to worry about Mokou. She's bound to show up as part of her ritual of killing me again and again, after all. Don't worry about it, Reisen. I'm just glad you are back here, safe," spoke Kaguya.

"Thank you, princess," replied Reisen.

"I don't suppose you heard them say something interesting, did you?" asked Remilia.

"I... I did hear something. They were talking about going to new base in the mountains... and I heard the one named Jin refer to a shrine several times," replied Reisen.

"A shrine in the mountains?" asked Reimu.

"I can't be, can it?" asked Marisa.

"That shrine on the Youkai Mountain, right?" asked Remilia.

"But I don't see Kanako as the kind of person to do something like this," spoke Reimu.

"You really shouldn't be so quick to write off the threats people pose. She did come from the outside world, right? And she does have the Kappa," replied Remilia.

"But Nitori doesn't know anything, right?" asked Marisa.

"She could be lying," replied Remilia.

"She wasn't lying. Not to say there isn't anyone else lying, but that Kappa was being honest in her curiosity towards those armored suits; she'd never seen them before," spoke Genichiro.

"Fine, she's not lying. She might be using someone else, though," spoke Remilia.

"There's only one mountain shrine in Gensokyo. The Tengu see to that. Reimu, we can't ignore this," spoke Sakuya.

"I know. I don't like the idea, but you're right, we can't ignore this. If Kanako is up to no good again, then we have to stop her," replied Reimu.

"So, back to the mountain? Awesome," spoke Suika, as she took a big gulp of Sake.

"Wait, if they're at the mountain... then Lady Yukari could be in danger! She headed there with that Tengu!" shouted Ran.

"There's no time to waste, then, is there?" spoke Sakuya.

"I'm coming with you," spoke Reisen.

"As am I!" shouted Tewi.

"We should tell Eirin and Nitori. Nitori might have heard of something, even if she doesn't really know anything for sure," spoke Marisa.

"Did you call for me?" asked Eirin, as she returned with Nitori.

"Seems Reisen found out who our culprit is this time," replied Remilia.

"It's the mountain god, Kanako," spoke Reisen.

"I see..." spoke Eirin.

"Wait, Lady Kanako? She's involved in this?" asked Nitori.

"So it would seem, unless there's another shrine on Youkai Mountain that we don't know about," replied Reimu.

"There's only the Moriya Shrine. Still, are you sure about this? I can't believe Lady Kanako would do something like this," spoke Nitori.

"It doesn't make much sense to me, either," spoke Marisa.

"It does make sense. What better way to get faith out of humans than to wipe out all the youkai, right?" asked Reimu.

"That's true. There are many humans who would celebrate this," spoke Sakuya.

"But why would she put a shrine on Youkai Mountain, get us to believe in her, and then try to kill all of us?" asked Nitori.

"Like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Hide yourself within the territory of your enemy, and leave them none the wiser. It's not a bad strategy," spoke Genichiro.

"I should go with you, too, then. I can wait to look over these outfits," spoke Nitori.

"I need to remain here to look after the princess, just in case. Tewi, I'll need you to remain here as well. Reisen, it is up to you to decide if you wish to leave or not," spoke Eirin.

"I'll go. With all the rabbits here, you should be okay. I don't think they'll come here again, anyway," replied Reisen.

"They would rather pursue Mokou, I'm sure. We can stop by the human village on the way to tell Keine about this. If she see's Mokou, she can make sure Mokou stays out of their reach," spoke Sakuya.

"I wish all of you luck," spoke Kaguya.

"Be safe, princess," spoke Reisen.

The group headed out of Eientei, making their way towards the Human Village before making their way for Youkai Mountain.

"It's been a while since the last time I was in the village," spoke Remilia.

"Yes, it had been some time," replied Sakuya.

"I've never been there before," spoke Flandre.

"Neither have I, though, there are a lot of places in Gensokyo I've yet to see," replied Genichiro.

"You're not missing much. I just come here to get supplies from time to time," replied Ran.

"You should stay a little longer, or at least drop by during a festival," spoke Suika.

"My time is not my own," replied Ran.

"Well, you should ask for some time, then," spoke Marisa.

"Maybe," replied Ran.

"I'd like to see one of these festivals," spoke Flandre.

"As would I; maybe we could go to one together sometime?" asked Genichiro.

"I would like that," replied Flandre.

"Maybe I'd let you go," spoke Remilia.

"Yes, mother," replied Flandre.

"Someone has to make sure you don't randomly blow something up," spoke Remilia.

"What wrong with that, ze? I blow stuff up all the time," replied Marisa.

"Then maybe you should find someone capable of keeping an eye on you. I hear we have a perfectly good shrine maiden up to the task. There's always the resident evil spirit, too. Maybe both," spoke Remilia.

"I've tried my hand at that once, even then, if she wants to go her own way, she will. Then she'll come back later asking for a new spell to learn to deal with some road block she's run into," spoke Mima.

"Aw, that's not nice, Lady Mima. I just learn spells from the person in my way, and turn them against 'em!" shouted Marisa.

"You would be out of luck against me with without that little tool you carry around," spoke Yuka, referring to Master Spark.

"I could do it, it's just that this makes it easier," replied Marisa, "And I didn't need this to get past you back then, anyway."

"I was tired and didn't really feel like going all out at the time. If I felt like giving it my all, you'd have been reduced to a small cinder... along with anyone and everyone within a mile or two," replied Yuka, while wearing a sadistic grin.

"Like 'kyuu-ing' her?" asked Flandre.

"I don't know what that means, but if it would reduce a person to ashes, then yes," replied Yuka.

"I can show you," spoke Flandre.

"Maybe you shouldn't, not right now, anyway. Maybe another time?" asked Genichiro.

"Hmm, okay, Gen-kun," replied Flandre.

"Yes, blowing up things this close to the village may not be the best of ideas," spoke Sakuya.

"Maid lady is right; I did a spell too close to the guards this one time. One of them panicked really bad. Ended up killing me with a fire spell," spoke Cirno.

"Killed you? I thought you were the strongest?" asked Marisa.

"I am! That guy cheated with that fire spell!" shouted Cirno.

"Uh... don't work her up," spoke Dai.

"I'd rather not have to breakup a fight," spoke Reimu.

"We're just about there," spoke Sakuya, as the group descended. Most youkai and humans that could fly approached the village on foot, so as to seem less intimidating, lest they set up a misunderstanding. As welcome as youkai were to the village, the villagers always made sure to keep an eye on them, even the ones who weren't suspicious.

"Feels odd being led around by a human, other than Sakuya," spoke Remilia.

"Meh, I'm used to it," spoke Genichiro.

"Maybe I should form a pair of legs..." muttered Mima, focusing on her form for a moment. Her ghostly tail gave way to a pair of legs as a result.

"You can do that?" asked Marisa.

"Of course I can. I just don't bother most of the time, since I'm usually flying," replied Mima.

"Oh, makes sense to me," spoke Marisa.

The group approached the gate of the village. Keine was there, talking to one of the guards.

"Well, this makes things easy," spoke Remilia.

"Hm? Oh, it's Sakuya and the others... quite a few others, actually," spoke Keine, "What brings all of you here?"

"You," spoke Sakuya.

"Actually, Mokou. We think those people might try to capture her, setting up an ambush just outside the village to get her the next time she comes here," spoke Reisen.

"I see, but what would they want her for?" asked Keine.

"Her ability," spoke Sakuya.

"Fire manipulation is a relatively common ability. They could capture a fairy for that and have a lot less to put up with," replied Keine.

"Not that ability," spoke Reisen.

"You mean... they know that?" asked Keine.

"And how to use it," replied Reisen.

"I see... that would pose a problem. I will tell her right away," spoke Keine.

"Just keep her in the village, and she'll be safe. They're not foolhardy enough to come into the village and start something. At least not yet," replied Sakuya.

"I'll try. She is a stubborn spirit with quite a bit of free will," spoke Keine.

"Even the princess wants her to stay here, not wanting something to happen to her rival," replied Reisen.

"Kaguya said that?" asked Keine.

"She did," replied Reisen.

"I'll pass that on to her. Maybe that part will get her attention," replied Keine.

"Thank you. And if you don't see her for a while, there's a chance she may have been invited into Eientei. The princess would likely offer her hospitality in this situation. We'll be sure to tell you if that is the case," spoke Reisen.

"I understand. Please give my thanks to Kaguya," replied Keine.

Reisen bowed in response.

"Well, I think we should get going now," spoke Remilia.

"Yes, it would be best to get there before nightfall. The Tengu tend to get more riled up at night," spoke Nitori.

"Oh, where are you heading?" asked Keine.

"Youkai Mountain. We think our 'friends' might be hiding there," spoke Marisa.

"I see, good luck," replied Keine.

The group continued their course for Youkai Mountain, keeping an eye out for any sign of the armored men. They found none as they approached the mountain. Nitori took the lead, knowing what to look for in keeping an eye out for any defenses the Kappa may have constructed.

"I hope we're not going to be attacked by some mechanical thing," spoke Remilia.

"I'm the only one who was working over here, so it should be safe. Really, these things are meant to keep humans out of the way. It is dangerous over here for the typical human," spoke Nitori.

"True, even I found it difficult to get around over here," spoke Reimu.

"I thought it was fun. I had a rather good time dealing with that situation, ze," replied Marisa.

"You would by the type to look at this as some kind of game," spoke Mima.

"It is a game," spoke Marisa.

"Really, it is..." muttered Genichiro.

"Eh?" asked Mima.

"It's best you don't think too hard on it. You wouldn't understand unless you went where we went," spoke Remilia.

"The world I came from would be rather odd to most of you," spoke Genichiro.

"From I've heard you say on it, I would say it's no different than the outside world," replied Ran.

"That's right, I suppose you been outside before, haven't you?" asked Genichiro.

"On more than one occasion. I find their clothes interesting, though I hate having to hide my tails and ears, even if Lady Yukari is the one doing it for me," replied Ran.

"She do it the same way Sakuya does, ze?" asked Marisa.

"If by that you mean time-space manipulation, then no. She merely manipulates the border between me being youkai and me being human. An odd sensation, to say the least," replied Ran.

"Have to keep that one in mind. If I can figure out how to play with boundaries, I could increase the power of my magic several times over!" shouted Marisa.

"If it was that easy, there would be more magicians attempting the art, with a couple practicing it. If you think you can do what thousands of years of magicians could not, feel free to try," replied Ran.

"Don't say it like that; if you make her think of it as a challenge, then she's going to do it," spoke Reimu.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, or something," replied Marisa.

"Only when you're showing off one of your spells in my shrine," spoke Reimu.

"That only happened once," replied Marisa.

"And I'd like to keep it that way," spoke Reimu.

"What did Black-white nee do to Red-white nee's shrine?" asked Flandre.

"It was awesome! I blew off part of the roof the first time I shower her Master Spark. I didn't mean to, but I was still getting used to the power output, so I couldn't aim it all that well," replied Marisa.

"Well, it's not like the shrine hasn't made it through worse," spoke Mima.

"Again, I'd like to keep that in the past," replied Reimu.

"Oh, don't worry about it. At least when it happens, you get a new place to live in. I'm sure it's better than living in some rundown shack in the middle of the woods that only becomes more of a mess over time," spoke Remilia, while looking at Marisa.

"Hey, my house isn't that bad," replied Marisa, "And how would you know anyway, ze? You've never been there before."

"I want to go there. I want to see Black-white nee's house," spoke Flandre.

"I could take you there one day," spoke Patchouli, "I plan to make my way there one day, anyway."

"Really? I'm so lucky to be so popular," replied Marisa.

"_Patchy must want her books returned badly to actually consider going outside the mansion,"_ thought Remilia.

"We're here," spoke Nitori, as the group approached the mountain. The group followed a waterfall heading towards the top.

"Think we should head to the shrine first?" asked Reimu.

"We should go see the Tengu first. See what they know," spoke Remilia.

"I hope they aren't doing anything. I hope my people aren't doing anything. I hope Lady Kanako isn't doing anything, and that this is all a misunderstanding," replied Nitori.

"I would like to think I heard wrong, but these ears aren't just for appearances," spoke Reisen.

The group continued towards the Tengu village, eventually being stopped by a group of White Wolf Tengu, led by a tengu with a scimitar like sword, a white shield with a red maple leaf, white shirt with detached sleeves, and a black skirt with red along the edge.

"Oh look, the guard dogs," spoke Marisa.

The leader grunted at the comment, looking the group over. One person stuck out above all the others.

"I see, so it is true," spoke the leader.

"Who are you?" asked Remilia.

"That's my question. Who are you to come to this place?" asked the leader.

"Remilia Scarlet, the Scarlet Devil of Gensokyo, now, you're name."

"Inubashiri Momiji," replied the leader.

"Inubashiri-san, I believe my mistress recently came here," spoke Ran.

"Indeed, she is in meeting with Lord Tenma. She mentioned you were told to stay somewhere," replied Momiji.

"My exact instructions were to remain with this group; they chose to come here after learning something unsettling," replied Ran.

"What could that something be to bring you here?" asked Momiji.

"We believe that Kanako may be involved in the recent incident. I assume you already know what I'm referring to," replied Reimu.

"Lady Kanako? On what grounds do you say this?" asked Momiji.

"I was captured by them, I heard them talking about how they had a base of operations connected to a shrine in the mountains. The Moriya Shrine is the only mountain shrine in all of Gensokyo," spoke Reisen.

"I find this to be highly unlikely," replied Momiji.

"I heard it clearly. They were talking about it right in front of me. They must have assumed I was still unconscious from... what they did to me," spoke Reisen.

"_I wonder. Could it be this is in error? But that place should no longer be active. No one has spoke of it in centuries,"_ thought Ran.

"What's wrong, Ran-sama?" asked Chen.

"Nothing you need to worry about, little one," replied Ran.

"Lady Kanako has said nothing of this and she has done nothing to show this. Nothing adds up to this conclusion," spoke Momiji.

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe Lady Kanako's nuclear project is part of this," spoke Nitori.

"You would agree with them?" asked Momiji.

"I don't like the idea any better than you, but hate the idea of my people being taken advantage of more," replied Nitori.

"I see. If that is the case, then we have no choice but to look into it. I take it you are here to deliver this information?" asked Momiji.

"Correct," replied Reisen.

"Very well. Stand down!" shouted Momiji to her subordinates. They lowered their weapons in response.

"I take it you found this out after Lady Yukari made her way here?" asked Momiji.

"That is right," spoke Ran.

"Alright, we'll lead you to the village. Follow me precisely, or you will be attacked," spoke Momiji.

The White Wolf Tengu led the group into the Tengu Village. The village itself was much larger than the corresponding village of the humans, and more advanced, due to having existed much longer than the Human Village. Many of the Tengu took note of those entering their village, many appearing to take notes, likely about to fabricate some story explaining their presence in their numerous publications.

"_It would be nice if one time, just one time, I could bring someone into the village and not have someone make up some ridiculous story about it,"_ thought Momiji.

"I will take you to Lord Tenma's tower. She will decide how your stay will go from there," spoke Momiji, while continuing to lead the group through the village.

"Wow, so this is what the Tengu Village is like," spoke Flandre.

"It feels familiar, like the place I grew up in. I haven't been in a village like this in quite some time. Makes me yearn for the days of old," replied Genichiro.

"You grew up in a place like this?" asked Flandre.

"I did. I am part Tengu. I was born in a place like this; my father opted to stay with my mother. The Tengu of my world were just as territorial, too. I heard they were always keeping an eye on my father when he first arrived," spoke Genichiro.

"Did they ever do anything to him?" asked Flandre.

"Well, the Tengu village I was a part of wasn't as much for gossip as this one, but there were a few. There were some unsavory articles written about him at first, but over time, they accepted him into the village," replied Genichiro.

"So things changed over time, huh?" asked Flandre.

"Not quite. I think my mom had something to do with it. She took a stand for my father, convinced our leader to accept him, to stop scrutinizing against him. She risked her reputation for the sake of him, and she won out in the end. The village even ended up being less hostile towards outsiders in general, though we still made sure to keep an eye on those we didn't trust. It took intervention, but it happened," answered Genichiro.

"That's just like what happened to me. I would still be in the cellar if it weren't for Black-white nee and Red-white nee. They showed all of us the errors of our ways," replied Flandre.

"Sometimes that's what's needed. Someone has to come and take a stand, tell everyone what's right, and that what they're doing is wrong," spoke Genichiro.

"Such a thing has happened many times throughout history," spoke Ran, "Even Gensokyo's existence itself is the result of a similar chain of events."

"Really?" asked Genichiro.

"Yukari and one of my descendants; they didn't like the constant conflicts erupting between humans and youkai. Each side started their fair share of the fights, it wasn't always a hungry, territorial youkai or a vengeful, angry human. This land was made to bring an end to the deadly conflicts of the past. Now, conflicts are settled with danmaku fights. Still, though, even that can be abused," explained Reimu.

"All power can be abused," spoke Remilia, "I should know."

"These people, though, they've just taken it to another level," spoke Reisen.

"Indeed. I've committed my fair share of misdeeds, but even as one who used to call herself an evil spirit, I would never stoop to the level of these individuals," replied Mima.

"Even I don't target humans without reason. Youkai come back; it's just playful teasing to them, but for humans, death is more of a permanent affair," spoke Yuka.

"Your version of playful teasing hurts... a lot," muttered Marisa.

Marisa's comment got a chuckle from Yuka and Remilia as the group made their way into Lord Tenma's tower. The building was about as wide as a house, but five times the height. The building was the tallest in the entire village. The floors were finished in polished wood paneling, while the floor was made of smoothed stone. Small lamps with fires born of magic lit the halls of the building. Momiji led the group to the main stair, which was sent against the outside wall of the tower. The wolf tengu led the group to an office at the top of the building, and politely knocked on the door.

"Who asks for entrance?" came a voice from within.

"Those others connected to the recent incident. They bring unsettling news with them, urgent enough to seek your immediate attention," replied Momiji.

"I see. Enter," replied the voice.

Momiji opened the doors, allowing the group entry. On either side of the door was a pair of Daitengu, twice the size of other Tengu, though bearing no animal characteristics. The pair held swords to their sides, acting as the guards for Lord Tenma. Yukari was sitting before the desk of another Daitengu, the Tengu leader, Lord Tenma. Tenma herself was close to being seven feet tall. She wore a set of deep violet robes, complimenting her raven colored hair, topped with a golden tokin. Her red eyes looked on to those entering her office.

"Ran? I believe I asked you to stay at Eientei," spoke Yukari.

"You asked me to remain with this group, Lady Yukari. I am following those instructions to the best of my ability," replied Ran.

"Ah, indeed. That is what I said, wasn't it? Well, then. I'm surprised to see you all here. Couldn't bear my absence?" asked Yukari.

"Hardly," spoke Reimu.

"Momiji says you have unsettling news about these armored men. If that is so, then please say what you have to say. If not, then leave," spoke Tenma, in a voice that carried her authority. The pair of fairies in the group were shaken by her voice.

"We have reason to believe Kanako is involved," spoke Reimu.

"Lady Kanako?" asked Tenma.

"I was held captive by them. During that time, they talked about moving to a base connected to a shrine in the mountains. As Moriya Shrine is the only such shrine in Gensokyo, it leads us to suspect Kanako is involved in this incident," spoke Reisen.

"I don't like the idea of her being connected to this, but it's hard to dismiss this information. We have no other leads about where they are at this point. A lot of things point to this. The technology they are using may have come from the Kappa. They may be being manipulated into making the parts. Then there is the power source; they have plenty of electrical power through Reiuji Utsuho and her reactor. Kanako, as an outsider, would know how to make use of such power. She may have used her alliance with you and the Kappa to hide her true motives," replied Reimu.

"A good point, but most of this is speculation," replied Tenma, "However, speculation as it may be, it does raise some good points, and I don't like the implications."

"What should our course of action be?" asked Momiji.

"I will not raise arm against Lady Kanako without good reason. As the patron deity of our mountain, to raise arms against her for no reason would be blasphemy. However, if you wish to investigate, I will not stop you. Bear in mind that we will not allow attacks against Lady Kanako without solid evidence. If you find that she is connected, and can prove this point to me, only then will you have our support for an attack, not before," replied Tenma.

"My, to think the new god of the mountain could be connected to all of this. I must say, after nearly being killed by these people, I would be... upset with her if I found she was connected," spoke Yukari.

"What is your stand, Lady Yukari?" asked Tenma.

"The same as yours. I do not act without reason. I have reason to investigate, but not reason to attack. I will not be the one to start up a fight on this mountain, if it can be avoided," replied Yukari.

"Then we are in agreement. You may investigate. Momiji, I will appoint you and Aya as their guardian; the pair of you are most familiar with this group of individuals, and both of you are capable in combat," spoke Tenma.

"As you wish, my lord," replied Momiji, while taking a bow.

"_Just my luck to have to work with _that_ bothersome crow,"_ thought Momiji.

"Ran, I will need you to investigate this matter, as well. Assuming everyone else participates, it would seem these new instructions will not impact your previous instructions," spoke Yukari.

Ran nodded and bowed in response.

"With the night approaching, I will allow you to stay here for this evening. There are rooms available for you in the tower; you will be allowed here as my personal guests," spoke Tenma.

"Thank you, Lord Tenma," replied Reimu.

"We are grateful," spoke Remilia.

"Yay! I get to stay in Tengu land for a night!" shouted Suika.

"_I wonder if there's anything good around to steal?"_ thought Marisa.

"Thank you," spoke Reisen.

The others nodded their thanks for Tenma's generosity.

"Well, if you're going to be here, you might as well enjoy your stay as best you can. Suika, I would appreciate it if we had a drink later on tonight," spoke Tenma.

"You got it!" shouted Suika.

"Ho, that's right, the Tengu are quite the drinkers. Might as well enjoy myself while I'm here," spoke Marisa.

"Try not to get too sloshed; we didn't come up here to party," spoke Reimu.

"Yeah yeah, sure sure," replied Marisa.

"Let her do as she wants," spoke Remilia, _"I might be able to blackmail her for anything she does while drunk later. I'm sure I can get a Tengu to photograph some memorable moments for me."_

A grin came to Remilia's face, not going unnoticed by Sakuya, who felt the start of a mild headache at the thought. Remilia only made that grin when she was planning something.

"Well, I better find a good room before all the good ones are taken," spoke Marisa.

"You'll have to share, three to a room. There isn't that much space here, after all," spoke Momiji.

"I can share with Reimu, ze," replied Marisa.

"I'll stay with them; I don't really need a room, but I wouldn't mind one," spoke Mima.

"I want to stay with Gen-kun," spoke Flandre.

"Not without me in the same room," replied Remilia.

"Okay," replied Flandre.

"_Sharing a room with not one, but two girls? Only in Gensokyo..."_ thought Genichiro.

"We may as well stay together, Meiling, Sakuya," spoke Patchouli, earning a nod from the other two.

"We should stick together," spoke Cirno.

"I'll join ya! We're all... well, we're all little, so we match!" shouted Suika.

"_I get the feeling I'm not sleeping much tonight,"_ thought Dai.

"So, who wants to share with me?" asked Yuka.

"I don't mind. Not like it matters, I know Lady Yukari and her shikigami are with her, that leaves us, the turtle, and the bunny-girl," spoke Rumia.

"Oh, it does, now, doesn't it," replied Yuka, while looking over at Reisen.

"_Why are those two looking at me like I'm their dinner?"_ thought Reisen.

"_Two dangerous youkai and a rabbit? And I get to share a room with them? Well, at least they look more interested in the rabbit,"_ thought Nitori.

"Well, that settles that. Now then, off for the fun!" shouted Marisa, as she left the room.

"Uh... hold on, you!" shouted Reimu, chasing after Marisa.

"Good to see those two haven't changed," spoke Mima.

"I doubt anything could change the two of them," spoke Remilia.

The rest of left the office, with Genichiro choosing to stay behind.

"Gen-kun? Are you coming?" asked Flandre.

"I will in a moment," replied Genichiro.

Flandre and the rest left Genichiro along with Tenma, Momiji, and her guards.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked Tenma.

"I'm just curious. Was there another Tengu by my name here?" asked Genichiro.

"There isn't, nor was there ever," replied Tenma.

"I see. I guess Aya just happened to be spying on me from the distance... but she seemed scared of me for some reason," spoke Genichiro.

"She was merely startled by the others being there; her fear was not of you, just the excitement getting to her head. As you said, she had been keeping an eye on you. Lady Yukari told me of your history, that you are of another world. Tell me, were the Tengu of the world like those of this world?" asked Tenma.

"Almost exactly the same. The only differences being we had a different mountain and less paparazzi," replied Genichiro.

"I see. Well, different world or not, I still look to you as a fellow Tengu, and extend my greeting as such. When this is over, I am willing to allow you to live here in the village, if you so choose," spoke Tenma.

"I'm honored. I will consider it," replied Genichiro.

"Good, good. Enjoy yourself, Genichiro," spoke Tenma.

"I plan to. I think I'll go look for a tailor; as much as I'm used to this outfit, it doesn't really fit Gensokyo. It's already torn up from travel, too," replied Genichiro.

"I can help you with that. As a fellow While Wolf Tengu, I believe you'll find our outfits to be the most... suitable," spoke Momiji.

"Ah, thank you," spoke Genichiro.

"Have fun, now. I'll be with you soon. I have a few matters to attend to before this evening comes upon us," replied Tenma.

"Follow me, I'll take you to where you wish to go," spoke Momiji.

"I'd like to catch up with the others, too. I'm sure at least a couple would like to join," replied Genichiro.

"Like that vampire girl?" asked Momiji.

"Yeah," replied Genichiro.

"Yes, she does seem to be rather fond of you. Perhaps a little too fond of you," spoke Momiji.

"What makes you think that?" asked Genichiro.

"Scent. I can tell her feelings for you," replied Momiji.

"Ah, I forgot. I got used to being the only person around who could tell emotions based on scent. It's been so long since the last time I was in the company of a fellow Tengu, let alone a White Wolf Tengu," spoke Genichiro.

"I see. As long as I've lived, I can say that I would miss this place if I were to leave. After being here for centuries, it would be hard to turn around and start life elsewhere," spoke Momiji.

"I've lived centuries outside of my home, amongst the humans of my world, watching as all the youkai I had grown up with disappeared from existence to the point where they were nothing more but legend and myths. And I can tell you that hearing your kind referred to as a myth is rather unsettling. I always found it quite arrogant of the humans to go so far as to say we never existed, considering that it was most likely humans who were responsible for us disappearing to begin with," replied Genichiro.

"Humans wiped out all the youkai of your world?" asked Momiji.

"That's what I believe happened. It's not surprising, really. They had two things over us: technology and numbers. Them outnumbering us wasn't the issue at first, since one of us could take down many of them. Once that was combined with their technology, though... that's probably when things started to turn. Being reincarnated back and forth made it difficult for me to really keep track of events, especially since being reborn meant being an infant again. There's nothing worse than being aware of your surroundings and not being able to do a thing about it because your body is too immature to function properly," explained Genichiro.

"I see. A sad tale, to say the least. It does make me wonder if the same would have happened here, had Gensokyo not been created. Perhaps Lady Yukari felt what happened in your world would have happened here, otherwise," replied Momiji.

"Were you around when the barrier was made?" asked Genichiro.

"Most anyone in Gensokyo who has been around for any duration of time has. Gensokyo as a location may be ancient, but the present Gensokyo is barely a century and a quarter old," replied Momiji.

"Ah, that's right. I remember now," spoke Genichiro.

"You do?" asked Momiji.

"Gensokyo may not exist as a location as in my world, but it does exist in another way, as fictional works. Well, not so much fiction, I suppose, but if you were to call them historical works in my world, you'd likely be laughed at," replied Genichiro.

"Strange, but I shouldn't be so surprised. From what I know of the world outside the boundary, their society would think the same, even with Gensokyo right in front of them. I've never conversed with an outsider since the founding of the boundary, so I can't say for sure," spoke Momiji.

The pair continued through the halls of Tenma's tower. Flandre and Remilia were waiting by the entrance.

"Oh, just you two? I thought for sure Sakuya would be here, too," spoke Genichiro.

"Sakuya does have a life outside of serving me; she isn't always at my beck and call. It would be unhealthy for both of us if I did not allow her some degree of freedom. She's likely gone on her own to do some shopping," replied Remilia.

"Oh, well, maybe we'll see her while we're looking around," spoke Genichiro.

"We may," replied Remilia.

"Are we going shopping?" asked Flandre.

"If you want. Momiji was going to show me where I could get a new outfit. This one is a little out of place here in Gensokyo. Not to mention it's all torn from travel and battle. Outsider clothes weren't made for magic battles," replied Genichiro.

"They do seem restricting; I doubt you get the same kind of freedom of movement while wearing those clothes," spoke Remilia.

"I wouldn't know; I've dressed like this for so long that I haven't really given it much thought," replied Genichiro.

"I don't think I would like wearing Gen-kun's clothes that much. I like my dresses," spoke Flandre.

"Flan-chan's clothes are rather cute on her. I'm sure she'd look just as cute in outsider clothes, too," replied Genichiro.

"Maybe outsider clothes aren't so bad," spoke Flandre.

"Well, they still aren't meant for magic battles. Maybe just as party and hanging out clothes," replied Genichiro.

"But what about magic parties?" asked Flandre.

"Oh, good point. They wouldn't do too much at all during one of those," replied Genichiro.

"As much as I'd like to stand here and listen to your discussion of clothes, perhaps we should get going. Once it hits nightfall, you won't found a single shop selling anything other than alcohol," spoke Momiji.

"Ah, right," replied Genichiro.

"Okay," spoke Flandre.

"Let's go, then," spoke Remilia.

Momiji led the group through the village and to the village marketplace. The marketplace itself was the size of several street blocks. There were rows upon rows of shops selling everything from clothing to armaments to food and drink. Momiji led the group to one of the shops towards the northern edge of the the marketplace.

"Ah, Momiji-san, welcome," came the voice of a White Wolf Tengu woman.

"Greetings, Makoto, how have you been?" asked Momiji.

"I can't complain too much. With winter coming, I'll soon be busy. Everyone always buys clothes before the winter comes," replied Makoto.

"I could use some clothes now," spoke Genichiro.

"My, my, aren't you dressed a little oddly. I'd think you were from the outside world if not for the ears," replied Makoto.

"I am, sort of. Long story," spoke Genichiro.

"Gen-kun is from another world," spoke Flandre.

"That is interesting. Well, if Momiji brought you here, I can only assume you want one thing, yes?" asked Makoto.

"Oh, yes, a new outfit would help. This one is... well done," replied Genichiro.

"If by that you mean torn up and burnt, then I would agree with you. Outsider clothes weren't made for the rigors of Gensokyo," spoke Makoto.

"Most would agree with that," replied Remilia.

"Well, I'll see what I can do for you. Let's see... I have several outfits available in your size. If you need something custom made, I can do that for you, as well," spoke Makoto.

"Well, don't want to spend too much... uh... Remilia, I hate to ask, but..." spoke Genichiro.

"Hm? Oh, don't worry about it. Benefits of my life style. You need not worry about running out of money," replied Remilia.

"Ah, thanks. I hope to be able to pay you back one of these days," spoke Genichiro, as he looked over various outfits. They appeared to be relatively sturdy, yet light weight. What one would expect for a merchant specializing in clothing for the defense force. Genichiro settled on a deep blue, long sleeved shirt with slits near the shoulders revealing a silver undershirt along with black trousers with silver triangles along the bottom edge. Genichiro finished his outfit with a blue tokin, but kept his old blue bandanna, black tabi socks, and geta sandals with a dark blue strap. As Remilia paid for the outfit, Makoto allowed Genichiro use of a small changing room she had in the back of her shop.

"Ah, now you look like a Tengu," spoke Momiji, as Genichiro emerged.

"I haven't dressed like this in a long time. So much better than these modern, cheap, throwaway outfits," replied Genichiro.

"Why keep the band on your head?" asked Flandre.

"A couple reasons. The first being to remind me where I came from, as one should never forget the past. The other is because I'm so used to it that I feel naked without it. That's why I picked a tokin to match it," replied Genichiro.

"A pleasure doing business with you today, do stop by again sometime, Momiji," spoke Makoto.

"I plan to. With the winter season coming, I was thinking of gathering some new clothing," replied Momiji.

The group left to wander the streets. Genichiro received fewer stares than he did before, no longer standing out as much as he did.

"I can take you to a place for weapons, if you desire," spoke Momiji.

"I already have a sword, and I don't like shields. They don't suit my style; I prefer to keep mobility," replied Genichiro.

"I see. May I see your weapon?" asked Momiji.

"You may," replied Genichiro, as he formed his sword and handed it to Momiji.

"Ah, a traditional fang sword, presumably made with one of your fangs?" asked Momiji.

"It was," replied Genichiro.

"A fine sword. It seems the weapons of your world's Tengu aren't so different from those of our world," spoke Momiji.

"Your sword looks different than Gen-kun's," spoke Flandre.

"It is. Each fang sword bears an appearance suitable to its wielder. They are as different as people themselves, with no two alike, and is the preferred weapon of our race, due to being more suitable for use of magic," replied Momiji.

"They're like your Lävatein, highly receptive to magic and perfect for danmaku battles. They work just as well in sword fights, of course," spoke Genichiro.

"Ah, okay. I didn't really think our weapons were that similar," spoke Flandre.

"So it would seem," spoke Remilia.

"There are very few who use manufactured swords. The same goes with shields, which are also made from the fangs of White Wolf Tengu," replied Momiji.

"Wouldn't you run out of fangs?" asked Flandre.

"They grow back, just as if I were to lose one of my arms, it would soon return. Such is the advantage of being youkai," replied Momiji.

"Oh yeah, that's right," spoke Flandre.

"She jokes like that from time to time," spoke Remilia.

"There's no harm in it. The pups are known to crack such jokes from time to time, as well," replied Momiji, "Now then, if you'll excuse me. There is still a little time before night. I should return to my post until then, unless you still have need of my services," spoke Momiji.

"I believe we'll be just fine now. Thank you," replied Genichiro.

"Thanks for joining us," spoke Flandre.

"Then enjoy your stay," replied Momiji, before jetting off towards her post on the mountain.

"She sure is fast," spoke Flandre.

"We all are. It's one of our traits we all share. They say no one is faster than a Tengu," replied Genichiro.

"Really?" asked Flandre.

"Except for vampires. We're just as fast as you," spoke Remilia.

"Really? I might have to try racing you two sometime, just to see how fast is fast," replied Genichiro.

"I accept the challenge," spoke Remilia.

"Sounds like fun! I want to join in, too," replied Flandre.

"Of course. It wouldn't be as much fun if it were just me and Remilia. Not sure who we would get to judge us, though. Maybe that Aya could do that?" spoke Genichiro.

"Even better. The loser will be known through all of Gensokyo," replied Remilia.

"Wouldn't that be mean?" asked Flandre.

"Maybe a little. Can't be nice all the time, now," replied Remilia.

"That's true. You have to be a little mean once in a while, to let everyone know you aren't someone who would easily be picked on or teased, just not so much that you become known for being aggressive," spoke Genichiro.

"Like how I used to break things all the time, making people get scared of me and everything?" asked Flandre.

"More or less," replied Genichiro.

The trio walked around the village for a time, looking around to see if they might run into any of the others. As they were walking along, Flandre stopped, looking at a food stand.

"I'm hungry," spoke Flandre.

"Now that you mention it, I'm a little hungry myself," replied Genichiro.

"We haven't really eaten all day. I suppose we should gather something. I would rather eat something from a place a little more elegant than a simple stand," spoke Remilia.

"There was a small tavern a couple of streets down. It's not high class, but I'm sure the food is satisfying," replied Genichiro.

"What makes you think that?" asked Remilia.

"It smelled nicer than this one," replied Genichiro.

"I suppose I'll have to take your word for it," spoke Remilia.

"Yay!" shouted Flandre.

The trio made their way back down the street, stopping at the small tavern Genichiro noticed. There were three seats near each other available. Flandre sat between Remilia and Genichiro. The group enjoyed some fried beef and vegetables with rice. Remilia paid again, leaving Genichiro to thank her. After the meal, the trio continued walking through the village.

"It's nearly sunset now," spoke Genichiro.

"It is. It feels odd to be awake like this. I'm normally just rising from bed at this time," spoke Remilia.

"Yeah, it feels so late, even though it's so early," replied Flandre.

"I can say the same. Then again, this change is small in comparison to others I've gone through over the past few days. I've never gone from full human to full youkai this quickly before," spoke Genichiro.

"What does it feel like?" asked Flandre.

"Hm?" replied Genichiro.

"How does it feel to be a human rather than a youkai? I've always been a vampire, so I wouldn't know," spoke Flandre.

"Well, after being a youkai, being a human feels uncomfortable. I felt so weak. I had none of my strength or speed, and my magic was much weaker. Worse still was the coming of the modern age, when technology replaced magic to the point were magicians were reduced to works of fiction. It was quite unsettling. The transition was quite abrupt, only spanning a few decades. At the time, that was about half a lifetime. And worst part of all is how well it was accepted. The emperor was so emphatic about how we had to change to catch up with the rest of the world. Granted, Japan is one of the major economic powers, but still, at what cost? Maybe only people like me have really noticed. Maybe no one else can notice," replied Genichiro.

"Gensokyo must be a paradise for you," came a voice from behind the group.

The trio turned around to see Yukari, Ran, and Chen.

"It does, to be honest," replied Genichiro.

"That's what I intended. The changes you speak of took place in this world as well. The idea of the end of magic, the end of youkai; it was just as unsettling for me. I found a human who agreed with me, as well, a member of the Hakurei Clan. The two of us were able to make the Great Hakurei Border," explained Yukari.

"If only there was someone like you in my world, then maybe things would have turned out differently," replied Genichiro.

"Maybe," replied Yukari, _"Though you may not find have found those changes to be as positive as you would have liked."_

"I see you found a new outfit," spoke Ran.

"Yeah, my other one just doesn't work here," replied Genichiro.

"I think Gen-kun looks so much more handsome like this," spoke Flandre.

"I agree with her, you do look better, though, maybe familiar is the word. I've been outside so many times that seeing you with your previous outfit didn't really distract me so much," replied Yukari.

"It doesn't work in Gensokyo. It still felt weird to me; I'm only used to seeing that outside," spoke Chen.

"Perhaps, perhaps," replied Yukari.

"Where were you three off to?" asked Remilia.

"Back to the tower for a little while, until nightfall. I plan to enjoy the nightlife for a little while before resting. A shame we have to rest, but tomorrow is an important day for us," replied Yukari.

"That much is true. If this really is the new home of those armored men, then we'll be in for quite the fight. Truthfully, though, I wouldn't be all that upset if it turned out Reisen misunderstood something," spoke Genichiro.

"I feel the same. I don't like the idea of Kanako being at the top of this. With outside technology at her disposal, she could become a troublesome opponent, even for me," replied Yukari.

"Troublesome for you?" asked Remilia.

"No more than that, though. I could defeat her, of course, but it would be more difficult than it would be under normal circumstances. Something I'd rather avoid," replied Yukari.

"Something all of us would rather avoid. And the potential problems don't end there. If Kanako truly is the culprit, it will cause a major disruption to Tengu and Kappa society, since she is currently revered as their deity," spoke Ran.

"And I don't like the idea of the Tengu and Kappa starting a riot," replied Yukari.

"We'll know what happens when tomorrow comes," spoke Remilia.

The others nodded in response. Remilia, Flandre, and Genichiro opted to join Yukari's group to Tenma's tower, and rested there for the hour between sunset and nightfall. The others trickled in one by one, with Marisa and Reimu being the last to return.

"I'm scared to ask how much of that is stolen," spoke Genichiro, upon seeing Marisa and Reimu return.

"It would easier to ask what she paid for, assuming the money she used was actually hers," spoke Remilia.

"Hey, hey, you all talk like I'm some kind of thief; everyone is free to take back everything after I die, you know. That's why I don't borrow stuff from humans," replied Marisa.

"That, and you can't outrun the Tengu; she actually paid for everything for once," spoke Reimu.

"It's not that I can't get past them, it's just that I would rather not have to try to get past them," replied Marisa.

"If they sent my kind after you, you'd be done, no matter where you hid," spoke Genichiro.

"What? The scent thing? There are ways around that, you know. I can make a spell or two that would make me impossible to find," replied Marisa.

"If you were that confident, you would have used them," spoke Remilia.

"I wouldn't test out a new spell here, ze. It's much safer to test them in my house," replied Marisa.

"How many times how you blown up you house by now?" asked Reimu.

"I lost count after thirty, but it's not like it gets completely destroyed, just a few windows and a couple of doors every now and again. I use one of Patchy's spells to keep things in place," replied Marisa.

"You took that book!" shouted Patchouli.

"Uh... oops..." muttered Marisa.

"I remember that one," spoke Flandre, "I was the distraction."

"You helped?" asked Patchouli.

"Black-white nee said it would be fun," replied Flandre, "Having to help clean up the mess wasn't really fun, though."

"What kind of mess?" asked Genichiro.

"Marisa convinced Flandre it would be fun to try an outside world game using the library's bookshelves. I believe the game was called 'dominoes.' Flandre had the strength needed," replied Patchouli.

"I'm familiar with the game. I can only imagine the mess it left behind," spoke Genichiro.

"Actually, it would be really easy for a magic user to clean up," spoke Marisa.

"Then why didn't you help?" asked Patchouli.

"I had things to do," replied Marisa.

"Like take a few books while I wasn't looking?" asked Patchouli.

"And wrestling with the gate guard," replied Marisa.

"Using that laser of yours was a dirty move..." muttered Meiling.

"I've used it so many times, you should at least know to duck, ze," replied Marisa.

"You know, as often Marisa goes there, maybe you should just make a room for her and let her live there," spoke Yukari.

"And a room for Gen-kun, too! I would be so happy!" shouted Flandre.

"Gen-kun in one thing, the witch is another," replied Remilia.

"Why would I want to live there? They might take me up on that job I offered them," spoke Marisa.

"Oh yes, I remember that. Love doll, right? I wouldn't trust you for 'maintenance staff,' and I have fairies under my command," replied Sakuya.

"You saying I'm dumber than a fairy?" asked Marisa.

"You're saying fairies are dumb?" asked Cirno, while holding her hand out, motioning to turn Marisa into a block of ice.

"Hey, if you're going to have a drunken brawl, at least be drunk first," came the voice of Tenma.

"You don't have a problem with their fighting?" asked Flandre.

"Happens all the time. They fight it out, release their frustrations, pass out, then wake the next morning. About a quarter of our population was born from a drunken fight," replied Tenma.

"There's another thing the Tengu of my world had in common with you; we knew how to party. The Oni made it that much better. I even beat a couple in drinking contests before I left for the home I established in the woods," spoke Genichiro.

"You beat an Oni in a drinking contest?" asked Suika.

"Hard to believe?" asked Genichiro.

"I challenge you to one!" shouted Suika.

"Yeah, sure why not? Hey, Lord Tenma, wanna judge?" asked Genichiro.

"Tenma will do, no need to be formal at night. I'll be too drunk to care, and everyone else will be too drunk to notice," spoke Tenma.

"Can I join?" asked Flandre.

"No!" shouted Remilia, Sakuya, Patchouli, Meiling, and Reimu at the same time, each fearing what a drunk Flandre would do. Marisa thought it would be amusing.

"Aw, why not?" asked Flandre.

"Yeah, what's the worst that could happen, it's not like she'll level the village, ze," replied Marisa.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure no one gets too out of hand," spoke Yukari.

"_She says that knowing she's going to be just as drunk as everyone else,"_ thought Ran.

"What about me?" asked Chen.

Ran pinched the bridge of her nose, knowing full well she had to let Chen have the opportunity to enjoy herself as well.

"Fine, fine, but don't drink too much; we do have work to do tomorrow," replied Ran.

"Yay!" shouted Chen.

"Let the festivities begin!" shouted Tenma.

The Tengu Village at night was much different from that of the day. Magic fired torches lit the streets, blocking out the night sky in some places. The marketplace changed from a place selling food, clothes, and wares into a giant tavern, where alcohol could be found anywhere in volume. Most of the Tengu population was in the streets, except for small children and those in charge of their care. Tenma gathered everyone to her favorite tavern, with Suika and Genichiro shortly behind them.

"Alright, so how should be being this?" asked Tenma.

"With the Tengu welcome," replied Genichiro.

"Tengu welcome?" asked Flandre.

"Ah, a fine way to start indeed," replied Tenma, "Two Tengu welcomes!"

The tavern keeper pulled out two large glasses, filled to the brim with sake.

"Whoa," spoke Marisa.

"How much is in there?" asked Reimu.

"About eighteen liters, give or take a drop or two," replied Genichiro, as he picked his glass up, and downed it in one gulp. Suika smiled before doing the same.

"Did that just happen?" asked Reimu.

"Now that's what I call drinking. Hey, can I get one of those?" asked Marisa. Her response came in the form of a large glass of her own. Marisa tired to gulp it down, but found the task as difficult as lifting the glass itself.

"Huh, how do those two do it?" asked Marisa.

"Oni and Tengu. It's what they do," replied Yukari.

"It is said that Tengu will gulp down massive amounts of sake as a greeting. I see that information is indeed correct," spoke Patchouli.

"I don't think it's possible to exaggerate the qualities of either race," spoke Ran.

"Alright, let's keep it coming. Keep bringing out the goods until one of us passes out!" shouted Genichiro.

"Wait, you do know what we have important business up here tomorrow, right?" asked Reimu.

"Relax, we don't get hangovers," replied Genichiro.

"Wait, hic, you don't?" asked Marisa, who was still trying to down the Tengu Welcome. As a result, she was starting to enter a drunken state.

"Good luck sharing a room with a drunk Marisa," spoke Remilia.

"I want one of those," spoke Flandre, deciding she wanted to try drinking.

"I swear I'm going to regret this... alright one for me, too!" shouted Remilia.

"That's the spirit. How about one for everyone!" shouted Yukari.

The Tengu tavern keeper demonstrated the speed of the Tengu by making the drinks as quickly as possible, setting out the glasses for everyone.

"Oh yeah! Hic! I'm the strongest!" shouted Cirno, as she quickly downed her drink. She passed out a few seconds later, with Dai rolling her eyes as she downed her drink.

"Oh yeah! That's the stuff!" shouted Yuka, the drink working it's magic on her.

"Hey, hey, look, I made it night!" shouted Rumia.

"Hey, you did! That's amazing, hic, ze!" shouted Marisa.

Suika and Genichiro were already on their tenth drink downing beverage after beverage. The tavern keeper kept providing different drinks, allowing the two in competition to truly see who could best hold their liquor. Tenma smiled as she started downing drinks along with the pair. Yukari joined as well, beginning an informal drinking contest between herself and the Tengu leader.

"This isn't going to end well," spoke Reimu.

"Don't worry, dear. Out of all of those gathered here, I'm the one guaranteed not to get inebriated in any way," replied Mima, as she downed another drink, having long finished the Tengu Welcome drink.

"That doesn't make me feel any better," replied Reimu.

"Don't, hic, worry, Reimus, gosh ta, hic, enjoy lives whilsh you chan," spoke Marisa, right before passing out.

"She can't hold it too well, can she?" asked Reimu.

"She just drank a couple of gallons worth, I'd say she did fairly well for a human," replied Mima.

Suika and Genichiro were downing their twenty-fifth drink at this point, ignoring most of the others around them.

"Go, Gen-kun, go, hic!" shouted Flandre.

"Yeah, teach that Oni, hic, who can drink the most!" shouted Remilia.

Patchouli had already passed out, knowing she would be knocked out quick, but also knowing it would be rude to refuse a drink given to her. Meiling challenged Sakuya to a drinking contest, after finishing both her drink and the rest of Patchouli's. Sakuya was able to win by using her magic to keep the alcohol from effecting her longer than would be normally possible.

Suika and Genichiro were both well toasted by the time made it to drink number forty. The pair continued to stare at each other, neither blinking as they continued pounding away alcohol.

"Gah, this is going no where. There's only one way to really settle this," replied Genichiro.

"And that would be?" asked Suika.

"I need a funnel and a split tube, oh, and an extra set of hands," replied Genichiro.

"The tavern keeper was surprised by the request, but did as she was told, pulling out what was asked.

"Okay, now someone hold her gourd and pour it into this thing. I got this side, Suika, you take the other," replied Genichiro.

The tavern keeper understood, recognizing the power of Suika's gourd. The oni smiled, offering up her vessel of infinite sake. The tavern keeper poured the contents into the funnel, and the pair continued their drinking contest. After about two hours of constant drinking, both ended up passing out, falling down onto the ground, sake dripping from their mouths. The tavern keep returned the gourd to Suika's possession.

"Huh, it's a tie!" shouted Tenma.

"Hey, I want some of that," spoke Flandre, as she opened the gourd, and started downing the contents. She quickly passed out, falling of top of Genichiro.

"Great, now I have to carry both of them back," muttered Remilia, who was careful to avoid drinking too much at once.

"At least you don't have to drag _that_ back with you," spoke Reimu, while pointing at Marisa.

"True," replied Remilia.

"Or those," spoke Sakuya, while pointing at Patchouli and Meiling.

"I have it the worst. I have to drag back a passed out fairy and Oni," spoke Dai.

"Says the, hic, one who doesn't have to bring back a pair of predators, hic, and their pet turtle, hic," replied Reisen.

"Hey, hic, who's passed out?" asked Suika, as she pulled herself up.

"Eh? Did I win, hic?" asked Genichiro, as he tried to get up. He noted Flandre was on top of him, and gently lifted her up.

"Oh, it was a tie. You both fell at the same time," replied Tenma.

"Darn, hic. Well, time for the sober spell," muttered Genichiro, as he pulled out a spell card.

"Hic! Magical Cure "Detox!" shouted Genichiro, before slapping the spell card onto his forehead. Genichiro's body started to glow momentarily, before he sweated enough to nearly completely soak his outfit. As the spell faded, Genichiro wreaked of alcohol.

"Oh yeah, that'll do it," replied Genichiro.

"Nice little trick," spoke Tenma.

"Comes in handy when I need to be sober. Can't stop being a Tengu just because I have something important to worry about," replied Genichiro.

"You had that the whole, hic, time?" asked Remilia.

"Of course. We have important business to attend to, right? Gotta be sober for that. Don't worry, I should have enough of them to take care of everyone with a low alcohol tolerance," replied Genichiro, before Suika licked his arm.

"Huh?" asked Genichiro.,

"Pure alcohol..." muttered Suika, before passing out again.

"That was weird," spoke Genichiro.

"I've seen worse," replied Tenma.

Everyone returned to the tower for some sleep. Genichiro was carrying Flandre, while Remilia was leading the way. Genichiro had used his spell on both of them, leaving both of their outfits soaked. Upon entering their room, they noticed a serious problem with the room; it only had one bed. A large bed, but still just one.

"You can't be serious," spoke Remilia.

"Huh," replied Genichiro.

"That's it? Just 'huh!'" shouted Remilia.

"Nothing else is going to make that bed turn into three, and I'm _not_ sleeping on the floor here," replied Genichiro.

"Fine, but if I feel your hand in the wrong place, you'll be begging for death when I'm done with you," spoke Remilia.

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Genichiro.

Genichiro laid Flandre out in the middle of the bed while sitting on her right with Remilia sitting on her left. Remilia and Genichiro traded their outfits for something else to sleep in, while hanging their outfits to dry. Genichiro let Remilia use one of his shirts, while using his pair of jeans for himself, not caring if his top was exposed. Remilia changed Flandre into one of Genichiro's extra shirts, while forcing Genichiro to turn around.

"Well, that settles that," spoke Genichiro.

"I suppose. Guh, I feel odd sharing a bed with Flandre; sharing it with you is just too strange," replied Remilia.

"Maybe. It could be worse. I imagine Reimu is having a good time with drunk Marisa," spoke Genichiro.

"That makes me feel better. Well, I suppose we better sleep, then. Feels weird sleeping while it's dark out, but so be it," replied Remilia.

"Rest well," spoke Genichiro.

"Same to you," replied Remilia.

Everyone in the tower drifted off to sleep, awaiting the events of the next day, while in another place nearby, Commander Jin was reorganizing his men.

"Do we have everything set up here?" asked Jin.

"We do, sir," replied scientist zero-one.

"Good, S-one-zero. The sooner we can resume operations, the better. I hadn't anticipated needing to abandon Lake Base this quickly, but so be it. This only speeds up the time table just a little," spoke Jin, "Were you able to retrieve the video information from the computers before the base was destroyed?"

"I was. It showed the results of Ex-zero-zero-alpha quite well. They were indeed capable of combat, but, as I feared, their personalities were unstable. One of them became convinced she was the vampire, and tried to reach out to them. Seems the other vampire reacted poorly to this. As much as I would like to implement psychological torture on those taking a stand against us, it would have been devastating for us if she was adopted by the others. They may learn too much if given the chance to study our work," explained S-zero-one.

"I don't think it would have mattered. I did make sure to set a trap that even Yukari would not have been able to get herself out of . The end result would be the same; they would all perish," replied Jin.

"You seem sure of that. Are you?" asked S-zero-one.

"Of course not. If it were that easy, I'd just drop a nuke on this place and be done with it. I'm prepared for the possibility they survived, even as unlikely as this is. Then again, I would be disappointed if it really was this easy," answered Jin.

"We'll know soon enough. Does the lady know of this?" asked S-zero-one.

"She's convinced they couldn't survive. If they did make it out, I'll worry about telling her how it could have happened at that point. There's no point in souring her mood right now," replied Jin.

"I see. Very well, if that is your choice, then. So what of our next target?" asked S-zero-one.

"I've chosen a pair of individuals this time. Very powerful, well respected in this land," replied Jin.

"What of their guard? We've underestimated just about everyone we've encountered in this land so far," replied S-zero-one.

"I've noticed that. That's why I sent an advance recon unit out this time. I didn't want to have to put up with more surprises this time. Seems this place has no guard of it's own, though it is protected by those around it. That doesn't matter, though. If we approach from the sky, we'll be able to get in without problem. There is only one other person there, outside of our target. There may be a few others, but no formalized defense force at that point. Their protection is running under the assumption that all attacks would come from the ground, not from the sky, spoke Jin.

"Are you sure of this? This is a land were people have the magic to fly," replied S-zero-one.

"I know that. From the ground, I meant from the ground up. This is a high place. No one would normally approach from the sky, due to lack of visibility. Something that isn't a problem for our scanners. They will not know we are coming until it is too late for them to act," spoke Jin.

"Very well. How many were you planning on bringing?" asked S-zero-one.

"Sixty this time. Fifty clones, and nine elites, outside of myself. That should be more than enough. We can catch the first off guard, then take out the other two, thirty each. They won't be able to stop us," replied Jin.

"Indeed. Three individuals alone, with this tactic, would not raise too much of a fight. Still, attack with caution," spoke S-zero-one.

"I know, I don't need you to tell me that," replied Jin.

"Are you so sure?" asked S-zero-one.

"Perhaps. You are one who was created with the highest intelligence possible, one that could be considered to be greater than mine, but that's how it was intended. Of all the scientist clones, you were made to be the best. I do need to hear the opinion of someone worthy every now and then," replied Jin.

"Then try being more grateful from time to time. I will continue developing Ex-zero-zero. I've compiled a complete analysis of the Miko's DNA, as well as that of the border youkai and rabbit. I will manufacture a better version soon," spoke S-zero-one.

"Good, good. I await your results," replied Jin, as he was leaving the room, preparing to make a request for the number of clones he would need at the shrine.

In the Tengu village, morning had finally come. One by one, everyone began to wake. Reisen was one of the first to wake.

"_Okay, the crazy pair are still asleep. I just need to make sure I don't wake them, then I won't have to worry about them anymore,"_ thought Reisen, as she tip-toed to the bathroom.

"Hey, rabbit stew, where do you think you're going?" asked Yuka, while looking at Reisen.

"Is turtle soup still here?" muttered Rumia.

Nitori shook a little at Rumia's statement, even though she was still asleep.

"That's not funny," replied Reisen.

"Did I tell a joke?" spoke Yuka, while giggling to herself.

Reisen mumbled something about being forced to share a room with crazed youkai as she went to wash her face of her sleep, while Cirno and Dai found themselves in an odd situation upon waking.

"So, how do we wake her up?" asked Cirno.

"I'm not sure. I've tried shaking her gently, but she swatted me into the wall," replied Dai, while pointing at a crack in the wall where she had hit it.

"Hmm... maybe if we kick her?"

"You kick her! I'm not getting blown away by an angry oni this morning!"

"It's not like we deal with oni everyday. And besides, I'm the strongest, I'll keep you safe, or avenge you if I have to!"

"You're not going to try, are you?"

"I'll try after you give it two more tries. Then I'll try a few times."

"Fine, fine," muttered Dai, as she kicked a sleeping Suika. The small oni had managed to fall onto the floor sometime in the night, but was still sleeping soundly, even though the hardwood floor looked remarkably uncomfortable. Suika grunted at the kick, but didn't make any other moves, leaving Dai to think it was safe to keep trying. After the fifth kick, Dai was sent crashing into the ceiling, before falling back down on top of Suika.

"That counts as two tries... one for the kicking, the other for landing on her," spoke Dai.

"Okay, okay, I'll try this time. I have the perfect idea in mind, anyway," replied Cirno, as she used her ability to make a large ball of ice the size of herself. Dai moved out of the way as Cirno threw the ice ball on top of the sleeping oni. The ball shattered on top of the oni. Suika finally stirred as a result.

"Is it morning already?" asked Suika.

"See, just have to use a big rock! Since I don't have any rocks, I used ice. Smart thinking, right?" asked Cirno.

"It would have been smart if you figured that out sooner..." muttered Dai.

In Reimu, Marisa, and Mima's room, the evil spirit was having a good laugh at the sight of the miko and magician.

"Where's that Tengu when I need her. This is just too priceless to leave alone," spoke Mima.

"Someone need a Tengu... oh my, this is going to make the best article!" shouted Aya, as she took pictures of the pair on the bed. In the middle of the night, Reimu and Marisa had cuddled up to one another, looking like a pair of lovers. Mima didn't really require sleep, only doing so a as a way to pass the time every now and again. When she caught sight of Reimu and Marisa cuddling with one another, she felt she had all the entertainment she needed for the time being.

"So, how long have they been like this?" asked Aya.

"Oh, for most of the night," replied Mima.

"Oh, good to know. That's not what I meant, though. How long have they been like _this_," spoke Aya, while making a motion to imply two lovers holding one another.

"For years, ever since I first met the miko. Ah yes, I remember the red-white trying her best to seal me. She found my student along the way, and it's been an off and on relationship ever since."

"Really?"

"No, not really, but don't let that stop you from writing it down."

"It won't."

"It's a shame I have to wake them up. Let me have a copy of that article when it's done. Just leave a couple copies at the shrine. I'll see it. I'll be sure to make sure other choice members of Gensokyo see as well."

Aya smiled at the idea of her work being appreciated, glad her intuition told her to check up on Reimu's room before seeing to the others.

"Might want to leave, dear. If they see you, it'll ruin the surprise," spoke Mima.

Aya nodded and left, leaving Mima to decide how to wake the pair of "lovers."

Mima approached Marisa, shaking her to wake her.

"My, my, I thought we had something special. Now you're into that miko? I feel so used," spoke Mima.

"Huh? Uh? Eh!" shouted Marisa, upon realizing what she was doing.

"What? Didn't want to get caught?" asked Mima.

"You! You put us like that, didn't you!" shouted Marisa.

"No, didn't have to. Your spirits sought each other out," replied Mima.

"Spirits, is it?" muttered Reimu, as she slowly rose from her place on the bed.

"Hey, Reimu, why did you grab onto me like that, ze!" shouted Marisa.

"That must have been you. I know you like me and everything, please don't grab me in my sleep," replied Reimu.

"Eh!" shouted Marisa.

"_I think I've been around Reimu too long; she's starting to pick up a couple of my personality quirks,"_ thought Mima.

In Meiling, Patchouli, and Sakuya's room, the One-Week Wizard and maid awoke to a sight that would be a bother for Sakuya, if they were at the mansion.

"I suppose we know who won the fight," spoke Patchouli, while placing her palm on her face.

"I wouldn't say she won, but the bed surely lost," muttered Sakuya.

Meiling had the second bed in the room to herself. Patchouli and Sakuya knew that sharing a bed with her would end in regret. Meiling's bed was torn apart, with bedding scattered every where. Meiling had apparently been in a dream where she was fighting, the red-haired youkai likely believing her bed to be her opponent.

"This is why she sleeps on the floor and why I had to reinforce the floor boards of her room," spoke Sakuya.

"If she put as much energy into guarding, I'd never have to worry about my books being stolen," muttered Patchouli.

Sakuya beat Meiling awake with the blunt end of one of her knives, knowing no other way to rouse the youkai. Meiling woke with a start; she would have sent Sakuya through the wall had the maid not known to move out of the way. Such was the fate of every fairy maid that had ever made the attempt to wake her.

"What happened?" asked Meiling, "Were we attacked?"

"You happened," muttered Sakuya, _"I'm glad I don't have to clean this one up."_

In Flandre, Remilia, and Genichiro's room, Momiji was trying to figure out how the wake the trio.

"_I know those two typically sleep through the day, but he should be wide awake right now. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised,"_ thought Momiji. She found Flandre had grabbed a hold of Genichiro, while Remilia had grabbed a hold on Flandre from behind. Genichiro had his right arm over top of both vampires. Momiji started with Remilia, making sure to be gentle.

"Hm? What? Wait..." muttered Remilia. She began to piece together everything from the night before, where she was, and how she ended up in her current position. She then realized two things. One was that another person was in the room and had woken her, the other being Genichiro's hand resting on her side. Remilia only had one thing in mind, and bit down on his hand as hard as she could. Genichiro's scream of pain could be heard throughout all of the tower.

"Did you have to do that?" asked Genichiro, as he was wrapping his hand.

"I warned you," replied Remilia.

"He felt nice and warm, though," spoke Flandre.

"I told him to watch his hands. He got off easy," replied Remilia.

"I can't help what I do in my sleep. Besides, it's not everyday I get to sleep with a pair of gorgeous vampires," spoke Genichiro.

"G-gorgeous? Well... maybe that _was_ a little harsh," muttered Remilia, while trying to hide a blush.

"I don't get to sleep with a cute Tengu that often, either," spoke Flandre, while blushing. Genichiro blushed as well.

"We even get a lovely lady to wake us up," replied Genichiro.

Momiji huffed, though she was also blushing slightly.

In Yukari's room, Ran found herself with an interesting problem. She had Chen curled up on her left, cuddling her tails, while Yukari had fallen asleep in her chest.

"_Am I the only one who can say when I wake up and actually do it?"_ thought Ran, grumbling about how she was going to have to wake Yukari again.

"Chen, dear, wake up," spoke Ran, while gently caressing her shikigami with her tails.

"Oh, morning already..." muttered Chen.

"Lady Yukari, it's time to get up," spoke Ran, while shaking her master. Yukari mumbled something, but continued to sleep. Ran rolled her eyes and pushed Yukari on the floor, knowing being gentle with Yukari would never get her to rise from her sleep.

"Hm? Oh, goodness, it seems I feel off the bed again. Is it morning already?" asked Yukari, acting as though nothing happened.

"_I'm glad she's yet to realize I'm the one who always does that. At least it worked _this_ time. I fear for the ability of this tower to stand if I had to do something else to get her awake,"_ thought Ran.

"It's always worse when it's somewhere other than the house. It's like I always fall off just as I need to wake up," muttered Yukari.

Ran sighed to herself as she aided Yukari in preparing for the day. The others were soon to join just outside the entrance to the tower, ready to bring an end to the incident they had been thrust into.

"So, who wants to lead the way?" asked Yukari.

"It would be best if we did," replied Momiji, while pointing to Aya.

"Ah, true. When in Tengu territory, keep the Tengu at point," spoke Yukari.

"If Kanako is really behind all of this, she is getting such a beating! And then that Jin guy is getting one, too!" shouted Reimu.

"I got a few sparks just for them, ze," spoke Marisa.

"Now, now, if you kill them, who will I take my frustrations out on?" asked Yuka.

"You can have everyone else," replied Marisa.

"Could you please refrain from talking about beating up our god in front of us?" asked Momiji.

"Huh? Oh, sorry," replied Yuka, while bearing a mischievous grin. Momiji sighed before taking to the skies alongside Aya. The rest were soon to follow. Momiji and Aya kept an eye open for the approach of any of the armored men, knowing how to readily pick up on intruders from having lived on Youkai Mountain for so long. As the group approached Moriya Shrine, they were surprised to find no sign of anyone.

"This is odd. If this is where they are, shouldn't there be a few around here?" asked Marisa.

"There did always seem to be someone around the one at the lake. Maybe they didn't want to be found by the Tengu here?" asked Reimu.

"I wonder," replied Yukari.

"We're here; please mind your manners; accusing Lady Kanako with so little evidence will not end well for anyone; we're only here to investigate, not point fingers," announced Momiji, as the group descended near the entrance to the shrine. Sanae was nearby, startled by the appearance of so many people at her shrine.

"My, quite a few people are here today. Come to pay your respects?" asked Sanae.

"These visitors here have business with Lady Kanako," replied Momiji.

"I see," replied Sanae.

Within a few moments, Kanako approached, sensing the large group of powerful individuals at her doorstep.

"Oh, Reimu and Yukari, and several others; some I've met, others I've not. What brings you here today?" asked Kanako.

"To get you back for those attacks you've unleashed upon us!" shouted Reimu.

"Excuse me?" asked Kanako.

Reimu answered by sending out a spread of ofuda in Kanako's direction.

"What are you doing!" shouted Sanae.

"Can't let Reimu have all the fun!" shouted Marisa, as she fired off a spread of bullets in Sanae's direction. Reimu and Kanako headed off towards one part of the sky while Sanae and Marisa flew off towards another.

"Time for you to pay for what you've done!" shouted Reimu.


	10. Curtain Call

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

_A/N: Sorry for the delay, work has been killing me a lot in the past few weeks, but I finally got this done. I'm starting to use a new style of writing, so there might be a few kinks, hopefully something I'll be able to work out in the future. Please enjoy the chapter, and leave a review._

**Chapter 10 – Curtain Call**

Reimu and Marisa took to the skies, taking on Kanako and Sanae, while the others watched, a few placing their palms to the face at the outbreak.

"Didn't we agree that we wouldn't do anything until we had proof?" Momiji says.

"Yeah, I think I remember that part," Genichio says.

"Should we try to stop them?" Momiji asks.

"Stop them? No way, I'm making an article out of this one!" Aya shouts.

"Hey, what's going on?" comes a voice from the shrine grounds. Everyone could see the odd hat with the eyes that manage to follow everyone around. Those who knew her recognize Moriya Suwako right away.

"Lady Suwako, I apologize for the disturbance; I did not intend for this to happen," Momiji says.

"Apologize? Looks like they're having fun up there!" Suwako shouts.

"So it would seem, though I do wish my dear Reimu would think a little more before reaching her conclusions," Yukari replies.

"Wow, so many here. What brings you all here?" Suwako asks.

"I take it you have no knowledge of an incident involving men in strange armor?" Momiji asks.

"Men in strange armor? Hmm..." Suwako says as she took a thinking pose with her fist resting under her chin. She appeared to be deeply thinking the matter over.

"No, we're not working on anything involving armored men. Not yet, anyway," Suwako replies.

"I see. Are you sure on this? We heard word that there were armored men with a base of operations in the mountains near a shrine. This is the only mountain shrine in Gensokyo," Momiji asks.

"I'm sure. Maybe Kanako knows something? She doesn't always tell me everything about what she does in her spare time; she only leaves me to run things that she's lost interest in or is too busy to work on herself," Suwako replies.

"Well, we could ask Kanako, but that stupid miko just had to go and charge in after her before saying so much as a hello!" Remilia shouts.

"And black white-nee is fighting the other miko," Flandre says.

"This is not what I wanted to happen; I'm sorry, this is my fault," Reisen says.

"You're fault?" Suwako asks.

"I was the one who heard the armored men talking about having a base near a mountain shrine. Maybe I really did miss something," Reisen replies.

"I don't mind, really. Things have been a little too dull around here since the Kappa's bazaar," Suwako says while bearing a grin.

"Speaking of that, what did you do with Hisoutensoku afterward?" Sakuya asks.

"What indeed. He's still there, just off. Might bring him out next year, unless we come up with something better," Suwako replies.

"I don't think they would turn such a fun being into a weapon," Momiji says.

"I figured I would ask, anyway," Sakuya replies.

"A weapon... no, I don't think we put anything like that in there. You... Nitori, right? You helped to build him, we didn't put any weapons in him, did we?" Suwako asks.

"Um, no. At least not in the arms and shoulders; those were the parts I was working on," Nitori replies.

"That's all of it then, right? Is there anything else you want to ask me about? I don't think I know anything connected to this incident of yours, though," Suwako says.

"We'll just have to ask Lady Kanako when she is done with the shrine maiden," Momiji replies.

In the skies above, Kanako and her miko were having their danmaku duels with Reimu and Marisa, while everyone below was looking on.

"My my, Reimu. If you wanted to play, you could have at least asked first. No need to come in here throwing projectiles in my direction," Kanako says.

"Shut it! I'm not here to play! I'm here to put an end to your plans for taking over Gensokyo!" Reimu shouts.

"Take over Gensokyo? If by that, you mean getting all of the humans in the land to give me faith, then I surely would not mind, nor complain. If by that you mean trying to gain some type of political power, then I do believe you've made a mistake."

"Talk is cheap! Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal!'"

Reimu is surrounded by several large spheres, each different colors of the rainbow. After Reimu is surrounded by each of these spheres, they are sent in the direction of Kanako. The living god moved out of the path of the projectiles, while keeping her distance from the miko. Kanako is forced to graze a couple of the orbs, but avoids taking a hit. After the first round of orbs is done, another group set themselves up around Reimu. Kanako makes sure to keep things from being too easy for Reimu, firing off several bullets of her own to keep the miko moving as she fires off another round of orbs. Reimu goes through a total of nine sets of orbs before her spell ends.

"Well, that was a nice little warm up," Kanako says, "I suppose now it's my turn. Weird Festival 'Madly Dance on Medoteko!'"

After Kanako makes her declaration, she fires of streams of red danmaku around Reimu, forming a border around her. Outside of the border, smaller red danmaku are sent towards the space, but bounce off, making the area outside of the space quickly fill up with bullets. As the spell continues, the space enclosing Reimu begins to shrink, while Kanako fires out a spread of indigo ofuda. The barrage of ofuda hovere in place before Kanako before targeting Reimu and heading towards the miko. Kanako continues the ofuda barrages, while the space formed by streaming red danmaku stopps, then starts again, once again getting closer to Reimu as it continues. Reimu had no trouble with the beginning of the spell, having more than enough room to avoid the ofuda. As she had less space to move around in, Reimu has to be careful to make sure there was enough room for her to avoid all of the ofuda. After about six cycles, Reimu made a small misstep, forcing her to graze through one barrage of ofuda. Reimu was careful for the rest of the spell, which ends after the tenth cycle.

"Almost had you for a moment," Kanako says.

"I'm not perfect, but neither are you. Time for the second round. Divine Arts 'Omnidirectional Dragon Slaying Circle!'"

After the declaration, a large circle spreads out in front of Reimu. Within the circle, Reimu fires a mass barrage of red and white ofuda, with the white ofuda making a wide net, while the red ofuda made a tighter net. Reimu also fires out a barrage of tightly packed small, white danmaku within the circle. As the danmaku pass the circle, the ofuda didn't change, but the small white bullets became head sized red danmaku, spaced apart further than the small white danmaku within the circle. The net of ofuda moved around in a circle, while the smaller danmaku remained in a constant pattern, restricted field of movement. Kanako makes sure to stay outside of the border, knowing she would have much difficulty in trying to navigate around the more tightly packed barrage of white danmaku. Kanako continues to fire off some of her danmaku in the direction of Reimu, hoping to break her spell instead of having to outlast it. Kanako was careful to be mindful of both the ofuda and the field of red danmaku around her, not worried about grazing the red danmaku to give her the most range of movement possible. For the first minute of the spell, Kanako is able to avoid taking any hits, but was hit by an ofuda to her chest just as the spell ended. Kanako flipped a little through the air, but was able to regain her balance in time to declare her second spell card.

"Heaven's Dragon 'Source of Rains!'" Kanako shouts.

Several streams of head sized blue danmaku rain down near Kanako. After they are a set distance away from Kanako, the bullets burst into rainbow danmaku. The streams along the outside edge of Kanako's pattern burst into head sized red and violet danmaku, the two sets firing off in a loosely packed formation sent off in all directions. The center streams take to the other colors of the visible spectrum and are aimed at Reimu, forcing the miko to keep moving, while avoiding the red and violet danmaku at the same time. The streams of danmaku nearest to Kanako are not nearly as tightly packed, but the border formed where they burst made it nearly impossible for Reimu to get too close to Kanako. Reimu fires off her ofuda as she moved around, making sure to keep Kanako's spell as short as possible. Reimu is able to avoid taking any hits this time, simply grazing some of the red and violet danmaku while avoiding the other danmaku from the bursting streams. After a couple of minutes, the spell ends, with Reimu getting ready to hit Kanako with her third spell card.

"'Lurking Boundary Spirits and the Mysterious Shrine Maiden!'" Reimu shouts.

At that point, five tightly packed barriers surrounded Reimu. The border on the perimeter begins to fire out orange ofuda three times the size of a person in regular, spaced out intervals. Kanako had no problem with avoiding the large charms while firing off her own ofuda danmaku. Kanako's constant attack quickly broke through the first of the borders around Reimu. The next border firs out blue ofuda twice the size of a person in pairs and at a slightly faster interval than the previous border. Kanako equally has no trouble with the second phase of the attack breaking through this barrier. The third barrier fires out red ofuda the size of a person in quartets, at an increasing speed. Kanako had to graze some of the ofuda, but continued to not have problem with the spell, breaking through to the fourth barrier. This barrier fires out violet ofuda half the size of a person in the form of a field, while firing out red ofuda of a similar size at the same speed as the second phase of the spell. Kanako didn't have too much trouble at first, until the red ofuda sent at her burst into small barriers. Kanako was knocked about the first burst of red ofuda, not expecting them to burst as they did, resulting in her running into some of the violet ofuda. Kanako got herself back together and finally broke through to the final barrier. The last barrier fired off normal sized violet ofuda in a fast paced, mass barrage, with the ofuda going in random directions. Kanako eroded the final border while grazing through the ofuda barrage, finally ending the spell.

"'Virtue of Wind God!'" Kanako shouts at the conclusion of Reimu's spell.

Kanako takes a meditative stance before forming flowering patterns of ofuda in the different colors of the rainbow, starting with red and working down to violet. Each color formed a different flower shape. The flower forms were tightly packed around Kanako, making it impossible for Reimu to get close to Kanako, forcing the miko to keep her distance. The flowing patterns expanded out towards Reimu, with small gaps opening up between the bursts. Reimu was forced to move her way through the gaps unable to break through the core of the pattern. Reimu misjudges where the gap of one of the patterns would appear, resulting in her being hit by several ofuda before a gap lined up with her position again. Reimu regained her sense of balance in time to avoid being hit again, keeping up with the gaps until the end of the spell.

"Not bad, Reimu, not bad at all," Kanako says, while smiling a little, "Just like last time."

"I'll give you points for being a little more prepared this time, but don't think you're the only one who has been training," Reimu replies.

"You training? I didn't know you did."

"Hey, even I practice sometimes!"

"Let's see just how far that goes, then."

In another section of the sky above the Moriya Shrine, Sanae and Marisa are having their duel, a flustered Sanae attempting to figure out what was going on.

"What is this!" Sanae shouts, while avoiding the small bolts Marisa fires off in her direction.

"Something one of your gods has been doing. Reimu thinks Kanako is up to no good again. Or maybe it's the other one... Suwako, right?" Marisa asks.

"That's Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako to you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, one of them is up to something involving this crazy guy named Jin and these crazy clone guys that look like a guy Yukari used to know. Oh, and they're all wearing this really weird armor that lets them use danmaku."

"I don't know about anything like that!"

"Yeah, I don't suppose you would, ze. That's okay, though. While Reimu is playing over there, let's have a little fun of our own. I don't want to just stand around and watch while Reimu has all of the fun, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to just stand around and watch, either."

"I will agree with you on that, I don't want to just stand around while you and Reimu defile our shrine."

"Defile is a strong word, don't you think?"

"Esoteria 'Secretly Inherited Art of Danmaku!'"

Following the declaration, Sanae is surrounded by pair of stars formed of danmaku; one formed of blue danmaku and a smaller star formed of white danmaku. The pair of stars around Sanae ripple with a wave of red danmaku traveling through the form of the stars. When the red hits a point of the stars, the legs shoot off into a pair of danmaku formations in the shape of stars, each the color of the star they originated from. As the part of the star used to form stars them reforms around Sanae, the pair of stars burst outward, showering Marisa in a storm of small danmaku as more stars are fired off. Marisa weaves through the barrage, grazing a few of the bullets that catch her off guard, but never taking a direct hit. Marisa is also careful to avoid getting too close to Sanae, knowing she would be unable to squeeze through the small gaps in the danmaku forming the stars around Sanae. Marisa fires off more bolts to break the spell while moving about, the spell ending after about a minute and a half.

"That was fun! Okay, my turn, ze! Comet 'Blazing Star!'" Marisa declares.

Marisa grabs a tight hold on her broom, and turns herself into a giant projectile, surrounding herself in a blue aura before charging straight at Sanae. Marisa leaves a path of blue star danmaku in her wake, the stars heading off in random directions as Marisa goes by. Sanae quickly moves out of the path of Marisa and grazes through the stars in her path. Marisa turns around, but doesn't aim directly for Sanae before blasting off again, leaving Sanae to only have to worry about dodging the stars. Marisa streams towards Sanae during her third charge, forcing the miko to move quickly while avoiding the stars from both the current and previous charges. Marisa increases her speed, moving more often, sometimes at Sanae, sometimes just missing her and forcing her to deal with the stars left behind. The spell continues for a couple of minutes, with Sanae unable to readily hit Marisa with her danmaku, due to Marisa's speed.

"Wonder 'Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars!'" Sanae shouts.

After the spell card Sanae draws fades, a pair of bright, glowing sphere's appear with one on each side of her. The pair of spheres fire off spears of danmaku as long as a person is tall in a rapid spinning pattern, with the spears of the two set to intersect one another. While the pair of spheres fire out the danmaku spears, Sanae aims small red spheres of danmaku in the direction of Marisa, forcing her to keep moving, rather than look for a safe spot between the barrages of danmaku spears. After the opening barrage of the spell, smaller spheres of blue danmaku appear on Marisa's right, each becoming a spear and firing towards the center of the spell. The same appeared on Marisa's left. The bursts from the side alternated through the spells duration. Marisa nearly lost her hot to one of the spears she nearly ran into while avoiding the red danmaku Sanae was aiming at her. Marisa was careful for the rest of the spell, grazing a few of the spears to avoid Sanae's bullets.

"Hey, you should try that when we have a feast. I bet skewered meats and vegetables would be a great addition to any party!" Marisa shouts.

Sanae fires off a burst of ofuda in Marisa's direction in response, prompting the magician to pull out her next spell card.

"Magic Space 'Asteroid Belt!'" Marisa declares.

After her declaration, Marisa begins to be surrounded by human-sized red and blue star shaped danmaku. The stars spin around Marisa before spreading out from her, forming a field of the star danmaku. Sanae has no problem avoiding the stars while she continues her attacks against Marisa, hoping to break her spell. After Marisa's star field becomes large enough, Marisa begins to fire out smaller yellow and green star danmaku into the field of red and blue stars. Sanae gets hit by the first star, not seeing it before it is too late. Sanae nearly tumbles into one of the other stars, but regains control over her path and moves out of the way of another pair of green and yellow stars. Sanae is forced to graze through the field of red and blue stars to avoid taking hits from the yellow and green stars. Marisa increases the numbers of yellow and green stars throughout the spell, making things increasingly difficult for Sanae, who is nearly hit again towards the end of the spell as she's forced to graze between a red star and two yellow stars. Sanae throws out a quick ofuda barrage before pulling out her next spell card.

"Great Miracle 'Yasaka's Divine Wind!'" Sanae shouts.

Immediately following Sanae's declaration, a tightly packed field of green danmaku surrounds Sanae, forcing Marisa to keep her distance from the miko. At the same time, Sanae starts firing off bursts of blue danmaku spheres half the size of a human, firing off at regular intervals. As the spell continues, the field around Sanae spins clockwise while falling into itself. The field is replaced with another at the same time. After the first field completely falls onto Sanae, the field spins out counterclockwise and expands outward, forcing Marisa to dodge within the field while avoiding the continued bursts of blue danmaku being fired off at regular intervals. After the first field flies off past Marisa, the next field begins to collapse, repeating the pattern. Marisa finds the pattern to be relatively easy at first, which Sanae had been hoping for. Sanae increases the speed of the fields collapsing, while not changing the speed of the danmaku spheres, causing Marisa to make a mistake and hit the danmaku of one of the fields as it's spinning off in order to avoid hitting one of the spheres. Marisa nearly tumbles into one of the other spheres, but rights herself in time to avoid the next field of danmaku sent her way. The spell continues for another minute and a half, ending with Marisa being forced to graze through the last field.

"Ha ha, this is too much fun, ze! Okay, I'll show you a fun one this time. Magicannon 'Final Master Spark!'" Marisa shouts.

Marisa pulls out her Mini-Hakkero, while she surrounds herself with different colored human-sized star shape danmaku. The star danmaku pack themselves in tight around Marisa as she speaks the incantation into her small furnace. Sanae, familiar with the name of the attack, knows to move as soon as she saw a thin laser come out for aiming the blast. A laser fifteen times as wide as the person firing it comes out. Marisa twists it towards Sanae, but the miko is able to avoid being hit. After the laser disperses, the stars around Marisa spin away, giving Sanae one more thing to avoid as Marisa prepares her next shot. Sanae makes sure to avoid being distracted by the stars as she makes her way out of the path of the next laser, followed by another burst of stars. Sanae notes the second burst of stars intersected with the first, making it a little harder to move around. Sanae ends up grazing the next laser Marisa sent out, but was still able to remain clear of the large beam of certain destruction. Sanae grazes through the stars, nearly getting hit by one as she makes it out of the way of the next shot. Sanae continues grazing through the stars as best she can to avoid taking a hit from Marisa's spark through the duration of the spell.

"How much longer are they going to be fighting up there?" Momiji asks.

"Marisa and Reimu are a pair of stubborn individuals; it will take a little more time before the two of them get tired," Mima says.

"Sanae can get a little discouraged if fighting for too long against a strong opponent, but Kanako will keep going until she can no longer," Suwako says.

"The perfect image I wanted to project. We should have left those two behind," Momiji says.

"What? Are you kidding? This is going to make some great material. Not just one, but two danmaku fights, above the shrine! This is journalist gold!" Aya shouts.

"Well, at least someone is enjoying all of this," Remilia says.

"I think it's pretty! I wish I could join in," Flandre says.

"Even the sun is pretty until you get too close; best to keep distance from them, let them sort out their own problems," Genichiro replies.

"At least my little Reimu has been working to improve a little bit. I don't see her training too often, but she can accomplish quite a bit when she puts her mind to it," Yukari says.

"I will give Reimu credit for being strong; this is the first time I've seen Lady Kanako and her miko in battle. They are giving an impressive show, so far," Ran says.

"I've seen all of them before; seems to be going about the same as it was the last time. Another all out struggle where the one with the most endurance wins. I doubt Sanae can beat Marisa, but Lady Kanako should have a slight edge over Reimu," Momiji says.

"What makes you think that?" Yukari asks.

"We've been giving her our faith since the time of her last great duel with Reimu. That faith translates into power for a god like her, and my faith is not wavering in watching her fight. She will win this," Momiji explains.

"Hmm, I do see your point. Even Reimu can be bested in danmaku. It will be close, but from what I can see, if this continues, Kanako will most likely be the winner, while Marisa will most certainly defeat Sanae," Yukari replies.

"Serves her right for just charging in like that. It would be nice if the blue white could take care of the black white, though," Remilia states.

"Why do you want Black-white-nee to lose?" Flandre asks.

"A lesson in humility," Remilia replies.

"She could always use more of those lessons," Patchouli replies.

As the fights in the sky continue, Momiji, Genichiro, and Ran picked up on something in the air.

"You smell that?" Momiji asks.

"Yeah, I do. I was wondering if they were going to show or not. This might actually give us a hint to the truth," Genichiro replies.

"I smell it as well. That smell of exhaust, the scent those armored men leave behind when they fly," Ran says.

"Must be a lot of them for us to pick up on them like that, no surprise there, but shouldn't your guard have picked them up?" Genichiro asks.

"Seems like they are coming from the sky; the guard is deployed under the assumption of attackers from below. The visibility is too poor to approach from the sky and not either get lost or run into something," Momiji replies.

"They probably have a way to see through the clouds," Yukari says.

"Well, they can't be seeing too well, unless there really is a lot of them. They would run off if they saw all of us here, I would think," Genichiro says.

"Agreed," Momiji replies.

"Well, if our friends are back, just tell me where. I'm getting tired of just watching," Yuka says.

"Same here; danmaku isn't as fun to watch as it is to perform, and I'm itching to get back at them for that little stunt at the lake," Rumia says.

"Ho ho, I couldn't have said it better myself," Yuka replies.

"You two better save some for me," Remilia says.

"Forget claims, first come, first serve. Hopefully those four will be able to stop long enough to join in, assuming two of them aren't on their side," Genichiro says, while looking at Suwako.

"Still don't know anything about armored people," Suwako replies.

"Wanna join in?" Flandre asks.

"Of course! I was getting bored just watching the others!" Suwako shouts.

"Then it looks like the game is on. You three mind telling us where to go?" Yuka asks.

"Straight above," Momiji says, while pointing up.

"Let's give them a warm welcome, shall we?" Remilia asks, while gathering a burst of scarlet danmaku in her hand.

In the skies above, Jin and his men are approaching Moriya Shrine. Everyone is focusing on the display on their visors, the only thing allowing them to navigate through the clouds as they were. Jin is leading the group through. He is frowning behind his helmet as the men make their approach.

"Commander, do you see that?" one of the armored men asks.

"I see it. Seems the mystical energies of this shrine are interfering with our displays. The beings here must truly have great power to be able to cause something like this. Set to head to the center of the interference; that should be our target," Jin replies. His men follow his instructions. The group continues to approach the shrine grounds, slowly coming out of the cloud cover.

"Ready? Now!" Momiji shouts on the ground. The group around her fire danmaku of all shapes, sizes, and colors into the sky above, into the group of armored men, who are unable to see anything.

Jin's men are completely caught off guard by the barrage heading in their direction. Jin is the first one to catch it.

"Evade! Evade!" Jin shouts, weaving through the danmaku barrage. Many of his men are focused on the readouts on their visors. Those further in the clouds are unable to see the danmaku heading for them until it is too late. Several explosions erupt around Jin and his men as several are hit and knocked out of the fight. Fifteen of the group Jin brought with him are taken out by the first barrage.

"_How can this be! They don't have radar here! There's no way they could have seen us coming like this... unless..."_ Jin thinks, pondering what had gone wrong. Jin looks down to see the start of a new barrage, with explosions ensuing. The second barrage takes out another seven of his group. Jin clears the last of the clouds, finally getting a clear view to the ground. He catches his eyes on everyone, not expecting to see Yukari's group gathered at Moriya Shrine.

"They did survive, and they're all here... retreat! Everyone, fall back!" Jin shouts, as he heads back into the clouds.

Kanako, Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae catch sight of the barrage being sent into the sky. Kanako had felt the approach of the armored men through her power over the wind, but dismissed it so she could concentrate on dealing with Reimu. After seeing two barrages sent into the sky, she could no longer ignore the presence she felt.

"What manner of people are these? Such strange outfits... are they from the Outside?" Kanako asks herself out loud.

"Wait, you don't recognize them?" Reimu asks.

"I've never seen them before. I did not know there was such technology. Perhaps it's something they've made since I was last outside the border?" Kanako asks.

"Lady Kanako, do you see that?" Sanae asks, postponing her match with Marisa to take note of the armored men.

"So you guys don't recognize them? I thought this was a little too easy," Marisa replies.

"So you really are innocent?" Reimu asks.

"Why would I send out such people to come here? It looks like then intended to attack my shrine. Challenging me to a duel is one thing, coming to assault my shrine is another. And they think they can just run away in the clouds? I'm not about to allow that!" Kanako shouts, as she focuses her power into the sky.

"Commander!" shouts one of the armored men above. The clouds start to dissipate around the men, leaving them visible to everyone below.

"Oh my, seems I've made a terrible miscalculation. Well, then, fine! This just changes things around again. Time to show the rest of my hand!" Jin shouts, as he punches in a series of commands into a screen he slides out from under one of the armor plates in his right arm. After Jin is finished, the air around him distorts and he disappears into a small portal, leaving his men behind.

"Commander? Commander!" the armored man shouts, knowing he was just abandoned. The man knows that while he and the others could also disappear in the same manner, the portal generators in their outfits are not as advanced and would take longer to make a usable portal.

"Looks like the sky is clearing," Remilia says, while looking up.

"Seems the god of the shrine is opening up the sky for us," Yukari replies.

"Well, this puts a whole new meaning to the phrase 'act of god.' Can't put it to waste," Genichiro says.

"Let's have some fun!" Flandre shouts, as she's one of the first to take to the skies after the armored men, with Genichiro, Remilia, and her staff close behind. Yuka and Rumia lead the others into the sky, while Reimu, Marisa, Kanako, and Sanae also head for the armored men.

The second-in-command of the group of armored men sees the situation, and knows there's only one option left.

"Forget retreating!" the man shouts, "Fire at will!"

The armored men turn around and open fire on the group fast approaching them. Some fire off bursts of small blue danmaku spheres from their shoulder cannons, while other charge up streams of human-sized blue danmaku spheres. The crowd rushing toward them brush off the attacks, launching their own strikes against the men.

Kanako is the first to attack, anger evident on her face at those who would attack her shrine. Kanako summons forth two pairs of faith pillars to her back and begins firing out bursts of different colored danmaku through the left and right parts of her field of vision. Directly ahead of her, Kanako fires out sets of ofuda straight at the men in her path. Four men are caught off guard at Kanako's speed, being taken down by the ofuda. Three others tried to get out of the way, only to run into the bursts being shot out from Kanako's faith pillars. Reimu charges in from behind Kanako, adding her ofuda to Kanako's, taking out another trio of the armored men as they're forced to move faster.

Sanae and Marisa team up the take on another part of the swarm of armored men, with Sanae taking the lead. Sanae forms several sets of stars formed from red danmaku spheres and blue danmaku spheres. The stars and sent into the crowd of armored men, who are able to get away from the stars, only to see them burst, with the spheres they are made of scattering about. Sanae's first barrage takes out five of the men in her path, before they grow accustomed to her pattern. Marisa pulls out her Mini-Hakkero, and prepares to try a new spell inspired by both Yuka and Sanae.

"Been waiting to give this one a go, ze. Loving Heart 'Split Spark!' Marisa shouts.

The Mini-Hakkero in Marisa's hand begins to glow, before sending out a pair of large lasers off to each side, a clear space in front of her. The pair of lasers spin around, leaving an open tunnel in front of Marisa. To fill the open space, Marisa fires off multiple colored small star danmaku to add to Sanae's attacks, filling the space between the lasers with an array of stars from the pair of magic users. The combined attack takes down ten of the armored men, leaving only a few left before Marisa and Sanae, all struggling to move around in the confined space formed by Marisa's lasers.

"I want a turn!" Flandre shouts.

"I got an idea, something I just thought up," Genichiro replies, while pulling out a blank spell card. Genichiro focuses his magic and embeds a pattern into the card.

"Momiji-san, want to try something interesting?" Genichiro asks.

"Have something special in mind?" Momiji replies.

"It's interesting, alright. I'll need both you and Flandre, though. It's a fun little spell I just came up with. No time like the present to test it out, right?" Genichiro asks.

"If it's fun, I want to try!" Flandre shouts.

"Alright, what do we need to do?" Momiji asks.

"I need your weapons. Flandre, yours is in the center. Ours go on the sides like this," Genichiro speaks, while placing the handle of his sword below the spade tip of Lävatein, slanted down towards the other end. Momiji does the same with her sword on the other side.

"Alright, Flandre, you provide the fire, Momiji and I will give it speed. The rest, the spell will take care of," Genichiro replies, as he holds the newly made spell card in front of him.

"Blaze Sign 'Flight of Phoenix!'" Genichiro shouts.

The three weapons before the trio light aflame, the image of the legendary phoenix appearing over the weapons in the flames. The weapons fly off into the direction of the another group of armored men. As the trio of weapons move, they start to spin, slow at first, before reaching high speeds. After the flaming weapons hit their maximum speed, they began firing out a mass barrage of small flame danmaku. The weapons take a curved arc through the armored men. One is hit by the weapons themselves, catching the attention of the others. Two more are caught off guard when the weapons begin to fire back at them. Another trio tried to flee out of the path of the weapons, ignoring the shots it's firing off, resulting in their end. The other armored men continue to avoid the bird of flame for the duration of the spell. One armored man is caught off guard at the end of the spell, when the weapons split apart, while still covered in the flames. The weapons are propelled like projectiles, with Lävatein continuing along the path, while Genichiro and Momiji's swords fly off to the sides. After spreading out the full width of the field of vision before the three, the weapons lose their flame and return to the hands of their owners.

The last five armored men fired off shot after shot at those charging for them, knowing they were severely outnumbered. Yukari gathered the pair of Ran and Chen to her sides, imbue them with her magic, and send them spinning off in the direction of the last group, Ran and Chen firing off bursts of violet ofuda and red fang danmaku. The pair of shikigami surround the men while firing off their bursts, taking out all but the last in charge. Yukari grinns as she fires off a small burst of danmaku straight in front of her, taking out the man as he struggles to escape. Ran and Chen stopp spinning at the end of the fight.

"Well, that was fun," Yukari says.

"Awe, I didn't really get a chance to do all that much," Suwako replies.

"You'll get your chance next time, I'm sure," Sanae says.

"Well, now that this is out of the way, I do believe you all owe me some kind of explanation," Kanako says, as the group descends. Yukari is about to explain the details when the form of Jin suddenly appeares on the shrine grounds. Everyone fires off danmaku of all kinds at the man, only to see their shots go straight through him.

"What is this?" Patchouli asks.

"A projection," Yukari replies.

"Oh ho, so one of you beasts knows something about technology, amazing," Jin's projection states.

"Who are you, and why have you attacked my shrine!" Kanako shouts.

"Seems I've upset the local deity. Sorry about that, please spare me your wrath," Jin replies, further enraging Kanako. The goddess prepares to launch another barrage at the man, but stops herself, remembering the image before her cannot be harmed.

"Feisty, aren't we? I am Hiodoshi Jin. I came here for you and the frog. I was hoping to take you captive and study you, but it would seem that fate has conspired against me once again. Seems you're quite the hard one to kill, Yukari," Jin states.

"I'm the master of these lands for a reason, if it was so easy to get rid of me, someone would have done it by now, I'm sure," Yukari replies.

"My last plan should have worked, but it appears I made some kind of error. I can't imagine how you managed to escape, but I don't care. I find it rather irritating that you've managed to appear before me once again, as though you're able to read my thoughts and stay one step ahead of me," Jin states.

"Did you bother to show yourself just to complain to us?" Remilia asks.

"No, course not. As I said before, I don't care. It matters not at this point. It seems I won't readily be able to capture any of the more powerful beings of this land anytime soon, so I'll drop that part of my plan in favor of the next step," Jin replies.

"And what did you have in mind?" Yukari asks.

"Quite simple, my dear. I am declaring war on Gensokyo. Your magical beings against my technology. What you've seen so far is just a sample of things to come. I have much bigger things in store for you. I was hoping to have a little more time, but it's of no consequence. I have all that I need; there's no longer need to wait. In two days, I shall come after you all. Prepare yourselves, for I shall soon see all of you on the battlefield," Jin explains.

"There's one more piece of business we have with you," Yukari replies.

"And what would that be?" Jin asks.

Yukari fires off a quick burst of human-sized red danmaku spheres at the image of Jin. To everyone's surprise, they appear to hit, Jin disappearing in a small explosion.

"How did you do that?" Kanako asks.

"I was playing with the border between him and his projection. I bent it to make the image an avatar of himself to transfer any damage done to it on the real one. If he survived, I'm sure he's pondering the same thing himself," Yukari replies.

"I doubt it would be so easy, as persistent as this man is. He appears to have a gift for escape," Patchouli states.

"Something he's a little too talented in," Remilia replies.

"It would appear we owe you an apology, Kanako, seems we were wrong to believe you were involved in this," Yukari says.

"What would make you believe such a thing?" Kanako asks.

"They said they had a base in a shrine in the mountains. This is the only mountain shrine in Gensokyo, and you would have the resources of the Kappa and Tengu, so we thought..." Reisen answers.

"I see. Fair enough, but that's just reason to suspect, not reason to attack. Then again, most of you appeared to be upset with the one that charged in," Kanako says, while looking in the direction of Reimu.

"I don't take chances, I take action. You know that," Reimu replies.

"Except when it comes to training, of course," Marisa states.

"Hey, I train sometimes, you know," Reimu replies, "and you charged in, too!"

"Didn't want you to have all the fun, besides, who was going to keep the other Miko off of your back while you were playing with the snake goddess?" Marisa asks.

"You still shouldn't have attacked in the first place. I am deeply sorry, Lady Kanako," Momiji speaks.

"All is forgiven; despite the rash actions of the miko and witch, I did have fun with my duel. It's good to have a danmaku fight every now and then to stay in practice. And all of you are now certain I am not involved. Now then, if possible, I would like to know the rest of the details," Kanako replies.

"I believe I can help you with that," Yukari replies. She explains the situation to Kanako, Sanae, and Suwako, detailing everything that had taken place with the armored men up to that point in time. Being from the Outside World, the trio was more accepting of this chain of events than those native to Gensokyo.

"I see, and now this man wishes to challenge all of Gensokyo. He doesn't sound like the type to make such a declaration without proper preparations," Kanako replies.

"I agree. Though it seems he's underestimated just about everyone he's challenged so far, it was only because of something taking place he did not expect. When he captured the vampire girl, there was no interference, allowing him to accomplish his task without effort. He failed at Eientei due to lack of information. He failed here due to our presence; he may have succeeded had we not been here to intervene," Yukari states.

"I agree. We would have been caught completely off guard; no one has ever approached here from the skies as they did; by the time we would have realized what was going on, it would have been too late to do anything about it," Kanako replies.

"So what do we do now?" Sanae asks.

"Easy, we prepare to fight. I'm not going to let this man challenge our new homeland and not put up some kind of resistance. What kind of god would I be to let me homeland end up in peril without taking a stand? I'm sure the two of you will join me, yes?" Kanako asks.

"Of course, Lady Kanako!" Sanae replies, while taking a bow.

"Sounds like fun to me, I'm in," Suwako replies.

"Very well. It would seem we have two days to gather everyone we can to protect our home. I have a few people in mind to help, too. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to lend their assistance," Yukari states.

"You have the help of the Tengu. I will see to it that the Guard assists you," Momiji states.

"War is good news; we'll be there, cameras and all!" Aya shouts.

"I hoped for as much," Yukari replies.

"I'll see to contacting the Komeiji family of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. She may be able to offer some assistance," Kanako says.

"I'll go grab the oni!" Suika shouts.

"I may be able to get some help from those of Makai," Mima states.

"I'm sure Alice will help. She might know some people who can help, too," Marisa replies.

"I'm sure Eientei will support you," Reisen states.

"I'll ask for help from the Human Village," Sakuya says.

"I suppose I could ask Byakuren for help," Reimu replies.

"Good, good. The more help we have, the better. Now then, Genichiro, you mind coming with me for a moment? There's something I'd like to take care of. Don't worry, though, it won't take too long," Yukari states.

"I suppose. I don't really know anyone here personally that isn't already involved," Genichiro replies.

"Good, good. Now then, let's all gather at the southern base of the mountain in two days. Bring all the spells you have, now," Yukari states, before opening a gap, taking her, Ran, Chen, and Genichiro with her.

"Two days is a little short notice, you know," Reimu says.

"Yeah, well, that's plenty of time to get everyone we need, right?" Marisa asks.

"I suppose," Reimu replies.

"The problem is that we don't really know for sure how many people we're going to need, though," Sakuya states.

"That may be, but we can make up for numbers with power. These people aren't so great, even when they outnumber us, we still have the advantage," Remilia says.

"Yeah, that's right! Power is what makes the difference, and we have plenty of it, ze!" Marisa shouts.

"You shouldn't be so excited. All of the books I've read from the outside world on the topic of war described it as something most unpleasant," Patchouli states.

"I read a lot of those books, too. They don't do things the way we do, and besides, it's not like they can really kill youkai. We're the only ones who really have to worry, right Reimu? Sakuya? Sanae?" Marisa asks.

"I see your point. If something happens to you, it just means I can get my things back," Patchouli replies.

"Well, yeah. There, see, it works out," Marisa states.

"We should get going. Two days isn't a lot of time for those who can't manipulate it," Sakuya states.

With that, everyone goes there separate ways down the mountain, off to find those they wish to ask for help in the coming battle against Jin and his men. In another part of Gensokyo, within the Forest of Magic, Yukari, Ran, Chen, and Genichiro appear out of a gap and in front of Kourindou.

"That is an odd way to travel," Genichiro states.

"It's something one must grow accustomed to when dealing with me. Now then, you still have your cell phone, do you not?" Yukari asks.

"Hm? Yeah, I still have it," Genichiro replies.

"Good, good. It'll be a little easier for me to coordinate somethings if someone else has one that's usable. I did say I would get it working for you. I don't normally provide this service for humans, seeing as the native humans have no use for them, but amongst youkai separated by great distance, they do have some use," Yukari explains.

"I see. How many other youkai use them?" Genichiro asks.

"Myself and Ran. I have no need for others to contact me. I'm making a special exception for you, Genichiro, as this situation calls for it," Yukari replies.

"I see. Why are we here, then?" Genichiro asks.

"This place has many things from the Outside World, including parts for electronics. It is the only such store in all of Gensokyo," Ran explains.

"It won't be a bother for me to get the part from the Outside World myself, but if he has it here, that would make things easier for me, "Yukari replies.

"What do you need here?" asks Genichiro.

"What you would refer to as a SIM card," Yukari replies.

"Oh, I see. But wouldn't you need one for the kind of service your phone has. Better yet, who provides phone service to Gensokyo?" Genichiro asks.

"I provide the service; I use my powers to make slight modifications to the cards. I just need it as a base. It makes things easier for me," Yukari replies.

"My phone already has one in it," Genichiro replies.

"We're not here for a card, are we, Lady Yukari?" Ran asks.

"I suppose not. I was also hoping to see if the man here will help," Yukari replies.

"Why would you need me for that?" Genichiro asks.

"The owner of this shop does nothing for free," Ran replies.

"And?" Genichiro replies.

"I was hoping to offer you as a part time assistant," Yukari replies.

"You brought me here to pawn me off?" Genichiro asks.

"You do like this land, do you not?" Yukari asks.

"What kind of help could he offer?" Genichiro asks, "Is he a skilled fighter?"

"Not at all, but he does have a useful ability. He could tell us about the kind of machines this Jin plans to use against," Yukari asks.

"I've served in the military in a couple of my past lives; I should be able to do that for you just fine," Genichiro replies.

"Are you so sure? He may be using things you're not quite familiar with. I would rather not take the chance. It's that experience of yours we can use the fill in the gaps left behind by this man's ability. I'm sure once you knew what something was, you could explain everything about it, right?" Yukari asks.

"I suppose. Alright then, for the sake of Gensokyo," Genichiro replies.

"I knew you'd help," Yukari states, before walking into the store, Ran, Chen, and Genichiro following her.

"Hm? Oh, Lady Yukari. What brings you here today?" the shop owner, Rinnosuke asks.

"Oh, just need an information expert. Have to fight a little war against a foolish man," Yukari replies.

"An information expert? Seeing as I don't sell people, that would mean you're interested in me. What do I have to do with this war of yours?" Rinnosuke asks.

"He's from the outside, using outside weapons. We could use your ability to identify them," Yukari states.

"Knowing what a weapon is and how it works are two different things. I doubt I could be that much help to you," Rinnosuke replies.

"That's where Genichiro comes in. He's also from the Outside World. He knows about their military machines, and would be able to figure out the rest from there. He just needs to know what a thing is to tell us about it," Yukari explains.

"He's from the outside?" Rinnosuke asks in a questioning tone. He knows of humans who enter from Gensokyo from the outside world, but has never heard of a youkai coming from outside.

"Well, not exactly the Outside World. It would be more accurate to say a parallel universe, one in which there is no Gensokyo, but just about everything else is the same," Genichiro states.

"Most interesting," Rinnosuke states.

"The man who is threatening us also comes from his world. It's like the Outside World, from what Genichiro has mentioned of it," Yukari explains.

"Hm... would this man happened to be using some kind of red armor?" Rinnosuke asks.

"He would. Someone tell you of him?" Yukari asks.

"Not exactly. The maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion was here some time ago. She had a device from the man. I assumed the red color of the device matches the color of the armor. She needed me to identify the device, saying it was something important," Rinnosuke explains.

"I see. You were able to help out then. I can see your help being useful again," Yukari replies.

"Very well. What will I receive in exchange?" Rinnosuke asks.

"I'm sure you would like to have Genichiro here to help you with some of the items you find. He could tell you much about the things you do not know about," Yukari replies.

"That would be helpful to me. Very well, I'll assist," Rinnosuke replies.

"Good, good. I'm gathering everyone to the south face of Youkai Mountain in two days time. Please be there," Yukari states, "Now then, off to take care of other business. Ran, Chen, gather as many others as you can."

Yukari opened a gap and disappeared, leaving the others behind.

"Well, it would seem our business with you has concluded for now. See you in two days time, Rinnosuke-san," Ran states.

"Indeed," Rinnosuke replies.

Ran, Chen, and Genichiro depart Kourindou, while pondering of other people to see.

"I don't suppose you two know anyone, do you?" Genichiro asks.

"No one that Lady Yukari wouldn't already know," Ran replies.

"Well, I have to go through the forest to get back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Maybe we could ask anyone we run into," Genichiro states.

"Maybe," Ran replies. Ran decides to join Genichiro in his walk through the forest, deciding it would be a good way to pass the time while still falling within the parameters of Yukari's orders. Ran herself understood what Yukari says behind her orders; to rest before the coming battle. Yukari knew everyone worth speaking to, and truly had no need to ask Ran to recruit any further.

In a part of Gensokyo separated from the main land of the country, a gap appears, with Yukari walking out.

"It's been some time since I've come here," Yukari says to herself, heading up the large stair in front of her. Yukari could have easily appeared at the top, but, since she finds the view of the garden on either side enjoyable, she usually walks up the steps, her destination being the center of Hakugyokurou, the Saigyouji Mansion. As Yukari nears the top, a shorter girl with blue eyes and silver hair, wearing a black ribbon in it along with a green and white dress with her family crest. She is carrying a katana with flowers on the sheath and actual flowers and a wakizashi. A formless phantom is traveling beside the girl.

"Ah, Youmu, I was wondering how long it would be before I ran into you," Yukari says.

"Greetings, Lady Yukari, and welcome to Hakugyokurou. I take it you are here to see the mistress?" Youmu asks.

"And to enjoy your wonderful garden, of course. My business does concern you, too. Perhaps you should accompany me?" Yukari asks, sounding playful at first, her voice turning to a more business tone towards the end.

Youmu nods in reply and leads Yukari to the Saigyouji Mansion at the center of the garden. A woman with maroon eyes and short, wavy pink hair is walking along a path. She's wearing a blue mop hat with a white triangular cloth, depicting a red ghost insignia. Her dress is a matching blue with whit trim and floral patterns. She is surrounded by several spirits.

"Mistress Yuyuko, you have a visitor," Youmu states as she approaches the woman.

"Oh, Yukari! It's been a while, hasn't it? Come to see the garden again?" Yuyuko asks in a cheerful tone.

"But of course. I wouldn't miss a chance to enjoy your garden, but that will have to wait for a moment. Something rather serious has been taking place in the mainland," Yukari states, once again starting out cheerful, then becoming serious.

"Something serious?" Yuyuko asks.

"Perhaps we should sit down. It's a bit of a talk," Yukari replies.

Yuyuko nods, motioning for the trio to enter her mansion. Yuyuko and Yukari sit down in front of a small table, while Youmu goes to prepare tea for the pair. After Youmu returns, Yukari explains the details of the current incident, leading up to the coming "war" with Jin and his men.

"That does sound rather dreadful," Yuyuko replies.

"It does. It's been some time since there has been a threat of this level to Gensokyo. Even if this man has proven himself to be something of a failure up to this point, I don't wish to take any chances. Better to be over prepared than under prepared," Yukari replies.

"If that is the case, then Youmu and I will be there. The main land is as much part of my home as is the Netherworld. And I have so many friends and acquaintances there. I would hate to see one of them hurt," Yuyuko states.

"I feel the same, mistress. I would not wish to stand by and watch as this man hurts our friends. I give my full support," Youmu says.

"I knew you would. Now then, there is still some time left, and I would like to walk the gardens before going off to a fight," Yukari states.

"Yes, a walk through the garden would do much to calm the nerves, right Youmu?" Yuyuko asks, while bearing a smile.

"I believe it would, mistress," Youmu replies.

The trio set out to walk the gardens for a time, clearing their minds of the current incident to enjoy a small break before the fighting begins.

In another part of Gensokyo, Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae make their way for the underground, their destination being the Palace of the Earth Spirits.

"It's been some time since I last made an effort to come here personally," Kanako says, while leading the group along.

"It's quite warm down here," Sanae replies.

"Yes, it does get a little warm down here. This was the former Hell, after all. It won't be so hot as to become unbearable for you, though, so don't fret," Kanako states.

"Yeah, it's not so bad down here once you get used to it," Suwako replies.

Sanae nods as the three continue along the path. The trio comes up upon a mansion with many stained glass windows adorning it. A cat with two tails crosses the path of the three. Upon acknowledging them, the cat becomes a girl with red hair with twin braids and black ribbons, and dark red eyes wearing a black and green decorated dress.

"Kanako, what a surprise to see you here," the girl states.

"Ah, Rin, or Orin, as I hear you prefer, I am here to speak to your master," Kanako replies.

"You wish to speak with Lady Satori this time instead of just taking action on your own?" Rin asks.

"Please address Lady Kanako with respect," Sanae states.

"Respect? She nearly drove my best friend insane with the power given to her. I can assure you that wouldn't have ended well for anyone, unless you consider fire and brimstone the ideal description of your homeland," Rin replies.

"Even gods make mistakes. I'm not here to bring up the past, but the future. It would seem there is someone else out there who is mad with power, too much power," Kanako replies.

"Too much for you to handle?" Rin asks.

"Even Yukari is going around and asking for help," Kanako replies.

"Even Lady Yukari? I see. Very well, if you wish to speak to Lady Satori, I won't stop you," Rin replies.

"Perhaps you should come along. You'll want to hear this, too," Kanako states.

"I was going to come along, anyway. I can't leave you alone down here," Rin replies.

Rin leads the way into the Palace of the Earth Spirits, leading the group up a few flights of stairs to an open room lit with many colors from the stained glass windows. Upon each of the windows are different depictions of the specters of Hell from the different religions of the world. In the middle of the room is a table surrounded by several padded couches and chairs. In front of the small lounge area is a shorter girl with purple hair and matching purple eyes with a black hairband. She's wearing a blue blouse with pink, frilly cuffs and a matching pink skirt with a floral pattern along with pink slippers and pink, frilly socks. On the wrists and collar of the blouse and hairband are small yellow hearts with cords going into them from a red eye over the girls heart.

"Lady Satori!" Rin shouts, even though she knows Satori not only knows who all is there, but also why they are there.

"So, this is Satori. I am Yasaka Kanako," Kanako states.

"Yes, yes, I know. Seems you are in quite the situation, strong enough to warrant your coming down here in spite of what you had put my beloved Okuu through in the past," Satori replies.

"That's the past!" Sanae shouts.

"I don't care about the past right now. I can read your minds enough to know the situation. If you would open your hearts to me, it would allow me to know everything a little faster," Satori says.

"I could do that, but for the benefit of your pet, perhaps it would be better if I explained it out loud," Kanako replies.

"Yeah, let her say it out loud. Not everyone around here reads minds," comes the voice of another girl from another corner of the room. The girl steps into the light, revealing her form to be similar to that of Satori. The girl has short, pastel blue wavy hair with a black hat wrapped with a yellow ribbon. The girl is wearing a yellow blouse with blue diamond buttons, dark green collar, and black, frilly cuffs with a skirt with a light green to dark green gradient going down to the edge with a pair of thin white stripes at the end and a faint floral pattern along with black slipper-shoes. Over her heart is a dark blue, closed eye with cords connecting to purple hearts on her shoes.

"Koishi, when did you arrive here?" Satori asks.

"Right before them. I was following them as they made their way underground. It's not everyday you see a living god going to Hell, let alone two, with their miko, so I thought something interesting might come of it," Koishi replies.

"Quite the bold statement when you put it that way," Suwako states.

"Exactly, so, you mind telling us a story?" Koishi asks.

Satori mumbles something unpleasant about her sister under her breath as Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae explain the situation to the three. Koishi bears an expression of sudden understanding and interest in contrast to Satori's dull, bored expression, while Rin is shocked by the recent turn of events.

"So that's why things have been so busy up there lately. I thought things seemed a little active. Well, I suppose we're overdue for another incident," Koishi states.

"You seem a little to excited about all of this," Satori replies.

"What? I wander around looking for ways to have fun. I've watched Reimu, Marisa, and even the miko right there go out and have some interesting adventures. I don't want to miss out on all the fun this time," Koishi states.

"War is not something one should consider fun and interesting. The wars of the outside world were anything but fun for those involved," Kanako replies.

"I remember about studying them during my history lessons. War is nothing like a fun game," Sanae states.

"I'm not ignorant of the conflicts of the outside world; I've done my share of studying, too, but this is Gensokyo. War here and war on the outside are two different things," Koishi replies.

"I would agree with you under normal circumstances, but the man leading this war against us is from the outside. No doubt he plans to use something of the outside to conduct this war against us," Kanako replies.

"I know, you just told us. Still, from what you've said of these armored people, they fight using danmaku. Even if their danmaku doesn't originate from magic, it's still danmaku. They aren't the first to use technology for danmaku fights in Gensokyo, and I'm sure they won't be the last," Koishi states.

"Very well, if that's how you feel about it. At least we have your support," Kanako states, while turning to look to Satori.

"This place is a part of Gensokyo; any declarations made against Gensokyo are made against my realm as well; I'll join you in your fight," Satori declares.

"Should I tell Okuu?" Rin asks.

"I can tell her," Suwako replies.

"You can both tell her," Satori states.

"Very good. We have that much more help in this situation," Kanako says.

"You worry too much. Only the humans need fear this; youkai like us have nothing to worry about," Satori states.

"Are you so sure? They've been targeting people with unique abilities," Kanako replies.

"I know, I know. And I'm not worried. If they want this power so bad, I'll tell them everything they want to know about it," Satori states.

"If you hate it that much, you could always do this," Koishi replies, while gesturing towards her closed eye.

"I'm not about to run away from my ability," Satori replies.

"Run away? Well, if that's how you want to look at it," Koishi states.

"Well, it would seem our business with you has been concluded. See you in two days, Satori," Kanako states.

"Yes, see you in two days," Satori replies, before returning to her argument with her sister.

"Do they argue a lot about that?" Sanae asks of Rin.

"They argue about a of things, but Satori enjoys every minute of it. She loves to argue with someone she can't read; she's too used to being able to corner someone in an argument right away," Rin replies.

"I see. Well, we should get going. I'd like to train a little before this war gets underway," Sanae states.

"I should join you, as well. Even gods need to practice every now and then to keep their skill sets up to date," Kanako replies.

"I'll be back after I visit the Geyser Underground Center. I know she'll come in handy," Suwako states.

"Careful you don't get burned, little frog," Rin replies.

Suwako laughs off Rin's comment as the pair continue through Hell past the Blazing Fires and to the location of the underground reactor of the Geyser Underground Center.

"Nothing like taking a little shortcut, right?" Suwako asks.

"Maybe," Rin mutters, noting Suwako isn't bothered at all by the heat of the place they are in.

"Hey, Orin!" Rin shouts.

"Contaminants have been found in the reactor... oh, Orin!" comes a girls voice from above. The tall girl descends to meet with Rin and Suwako. The girl has long, raven-black hair with a green ribbon and red eyes, wearing a white shirt with green and black trim, surrounding a large, red slit eye at the center and a short, green skirt with a small, simple white pattern near the top. The girl's right arm bears a large, hexagonal, rod with black markings, while her right foot is encased in concrete. Small atoms orbit her left foot over knee-high boots. On her back are a pair of wings with a white cape draped over them bearing a scrolling galaxy pattern on the inside.

"Hey Okuu!" Rin shouts before running over to her friend and giving her a hug.

"Ah, what brings you here?" asks Utsuho, addressed as Okuu by Rin.

"Gensokyo is about to erupt in war and we thought you'd like to be on our side," Suwako states.

"Huh? Who are you?" Utsuho asks.

"Uh... I helped with building Hisoutensoku," Suwako replies.

"Hisou... what?" Utsuho asks.

"Giant robot," Suwako replies.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's right. I remember now. That sure was fun. So what's this about war?" Utsuho asks.

Rin explains the situation to Utsuho in a way that she could understand. By the end of Rin's explanation, Utsuho was smiling at the idea of the war.

"Sounds like fun! I'm in!" Utsuho shouts.

"I thought as much. That's part of why I came here; we'll have to shut down the reactor while you're not here to maintain it. Bad things could happen if we were to leave it running while you weren't here, after all," Suwako explains.

"Is that the real reason why you came along?" Rin asks.

"Yep!" Suwako replies.

"Should have guessed as much. You and Kanako would do anything to protect your precious reactor," Rin states.

"That may be, but if it explodes, your home would be wiped out, along with most of Gensokyo. It's best if we keep an eye on it to make sure that doesn't happen, right?" Suwako asks.

"Oh, right, of course," Rin states.

"Yeah, that's why I make sure nothing contaminates the reactor. This blue haired lady told me that bad things would happen if I let contaminants get into the reactor... speaking of which, I was told there were contaminants in here," Utsuho states.

"Must be us; I did have the kappa set it so that anything and everything that didn't belong here would be identified as a contaminant," Suwako replies.

"Eh? Orin isn't a contaminant. She's my best friend," Utsuho states plainly, "It must be you."

"Right, right. Well, let's shutdown the reactor first, then we can worry about clearing out contaminants," Suwako replies.

"Okay, I do need to shutdown the reactor before leaving," Utsuho states.

The trio of Suwako, Rin, and Utsuho begin the task of safely shutting down the reactor while in another part of Hell, a certain oni is conducting her own recruitment.

"So, you want in, right?" Suika asks.

"In? Are you kidding? A fight like this? Only a fool would miss out on it, even if I have to go above ground!" shouts another oni. This oni is much taller than Suika, and appears much more built and mature, bearing a fairly large bust. She has long, straight blond hair and red eyes with a single red horn with a yellow star on her forehead. She's wearing a plain white, short sleeve T-shirt with red along the edges and going down the sides with a translucent blue skirt with red stripes and trim showing a plain, white skirt underneath and wooden geta sandals with a red strap. She's holding a red saucer with a single yellow star, matching her horn, filled with sake, and has chain links hanging off of her wrists and ankles.

"I knew you wouldn't miss out on this one, Yuugi!" Suika shouts.

"Of course not. You know I love a good fight. Not to mention I get a chance to fight alongside so many other people. It's like a free for all, the one who smashes the most wins, and I intend to win," Yuugi replies.

"Not if I don't beat you first!"

"Ha ha! Alright, I accept that challenge. We have to make sure we beat the miko and her witch friend, too. I don't want to be second best to anyone!"

"Alright, alright, we'll make sure to beat them, too. Reimu will be easy, but Marisa will be a lot harder, since she can do that spark move."

"Ah, so true, so true, but that's just human trickery. Take that away from her, and she's just like everyone else."

"Not her, she's a special human. She has many, many, tricks, but she likes to fight fair just to show she's the strongest. All the more reason for us to put in as much effort as we can!"

"If you say so. Now then, since you've come back down here, we have to have a drink, or two, or three! Let's just drink the night away. We have two days, right? If I have to be sober for a war, I want to be as drunk as possible before."

"Who says we had to be sober for the war?"

"I like the way you think! Come on, I have some sake saved just for this occasion, made fresh from a wine worm. The finest sake you can imagine!"

Suika gave a loud cheer before rushing to join Yuugi for their drink together, while in another underground world, the land of Makai, Mima was making her way for a palace.

"Ho, it's been a while since the last time I traveled down here. And this time, only a few of the youkai flying about are dumb enough to try to attack me," Mima states as she fires off a few rounds of danmaku at small bat youkai. As Mima gets close to the palace, a maid in a red dress with a white apron approaches her. The maid has wavy yellow hair and matching yellow eyes along with brown shoes and white socks at the bottom of her maid dress.

"So, once again you're here, disrupting things," the maid speaks.

"Ah, Yumeko, right? I'm not starting anything; they're the ones picking the fights. Those who remembered me had enough sense to back off," Mima replies.

"The mistress and I have been watching you since your arrival. You started a few of those fights."

"Okay, maybe one or two. What's the fun of going into the 'Land of Demons' and not picking a fight or two?"

"I'd say you have two more on your hands if you don't watch it."

"Yes, well, as much as I would enjoy taking you up on that offer, and I really would, I'm actually here on business this time around."

"Oh? And why should I believe you?"

"Simple, really, I haven't started attacking you."

"That's not much to go on."

"Well, unless you've improved yourself drastically since the last time I was here, I'm bound to see your mistress eventually. I would rather not have to fight my way in here this time around."

"That was twelve years ago. I've learned more than a fair share of new tricks; however, the mistress is interested in meeting with you regardless, so I'll save the theatrics for a later time."

Mima smirks in response as Yumeko leads Mima into the mansion. The mansion itself was built more like a fortress, as opposed to a traditional mansion. There are several youkai throughout, performing maintenance tasks throughout the halls, paved and walled with stone. Yumeko lead Mima to the a room near the top of the five story building. At the center of the room stands a woman with white hair and light blue eyes, her hair going off in a small ponytail to her left, secured with a tie bearing two red jewels. The woman is wearing red robes over a white shirt with a high collar and black shoes.

"Mistress Shinki, I have the trespasser here," Yumeko says.

"Very good," Shinki replies, "You may leave now."

"Actually, it would be best if she stuck around for what I have to say," Mima states.

"Oh? Very well, please remain, Yumeko," Shinki states.

Yumeko nods and stands off to the side as Shinki approaches Mima.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here again after what you did the last time you were here," Shinki states.

"That was rather fun, wasn't it? I hope you're still not upset about that," Mima replies.

"Fun for you, perhaps. Seeing you, that youkai, the Hakurei maiden, and that witch didn't do too much for me."

"That's one point we agree on; it would have been so much more fun if they stayed behind."

"I sincerely hope you didn't come here to crack jokes about the past."

"Oh, I'd rather see how a one on one duel between us goes than do what I came down here to do."

"If it's a waste of my time, I might just grant that request. Now then, what is it that you're here for?"

"To put it simply, I'm here to ask for you help."

"_My _help? Either you've truly lost what's left of what you call a mind, of something rather severe is happening in the mainland."

"There are those who would argue for the former, but my business concerns the latter."

Mima explains the current situation to Shinki and Yumeko, detailing everything from the armored men's plans, their attack on the Hakurei Shrine, and Jin's declaration. Shinki appeared to be amused at the part where everyone was almost killed in Jin's base trap, but removed her grin at hearing of the war declaration.

"So, let me get this straight, this man from the Outside has declared war on Gensokyo, and is deploying technology from the Outside to do it. The situation being so grave that even the border youkai, Yakumo Yukari herself, is recruiting help even from me?" Shinki asks.

"Yeah, that's it," Mima replies.

"And you think we'll help you out?"

"Figured I'd try, don't really know too many others to ask that aren't already involved."

"Mistress, as much as I'd hate to help the spirit, anything that threatens the mainland will eventually threaten here," Yumeko states.

"Very true, Yumeko. Very well, since I have no desire to greet these armored men at my doorstep, I shall aid you and the others," Shinki says.

"Oh, good. We're all gathering at the south base of Youkai Mountain in two days. I hope that isn't too short of a notice," Mima replies.

"Two days? No wonder Yukari is so desperate. We will be there," Shinki states.

"Ah, good. I'm sure the others will be happy to see you again," Mima replies.

Shinki mutters something about bothersome spirits before directing Yumeko to lead Mima out of the palace.

"Before you leave, know that you should avoid picking any more fights on your way out, lest you change the mistress' mood," Yumeko states.

"Fine, but if someone attacks me, I'm going to fight back," Mima replies before heading out for Makai's exit.

In the Forest of Magic, Marisa is making her way for Alice's house. Marisa had to fight her way through a couple of waves of fairies before arriving at her destination.

"Hey! Alice! You there, ze!" Marisa shouts while pounding on Alice's door.

"You don't have to knock so loud," comes a reply from within. A small doll with blond hair and blue eyes with a red hair ribbon in a blue maid dress with white apron and black shoes with white socks opens the door. The small doll leads Marisa to a woman with blond hair and green eyes with a red hairband. The woman is wearing a light blue dress with frilly red ribbons at the waist and collar and a white cloth draped above her shoulders with a black stripe along it's edge to go with the black bands around the edge of the short, white sleeves of her dress. On the table beside her is a black hardcover book with a red ribbon wrapped around, which is always seen in her possession.

"Hey Alice, you'll never believe what I've just been through, ze!" Marisa shouts.

"You have a lot to learn about magic if you're still surprised by anything in Gensokyo," Alice replies.

"Well, the stuff I've seen was from the Outside. I was even in another dimension, or parallel universe. I think that's what Genichiro and Yukari were calling it. It was just like the Outside, so even better!"

"A parallel... Marisa, how much have you had to drink today?"

"I'm stone cold sober, thanks to this spell that this Genichiro guy has. He's from the parallel dimension I was talking about. I even borrowed some things from there, though, since it was all food, I had to eat it all. Didn't want it to go bad, ze."

"Genichiro guy, huh? Alright, why don't you tell me about everything, since I know you're going to tell me about it anyway."

Marisa smiles as she recounts the entire tale, from when she joined Remilia and Sakuya to rescue Flandre from Genichiro's world up to Jin's war declaration. By the end of Marisa's story, Alice appeared to be in deep thought.

"So, you going to help?" Marisa asks.

"Help, huh? I suppose I should. I can't say I really know anyone else out here who would be useful, but I'll join in," Alice replies.

"You don't believe any of that, do you?"

"I have my doubts, but it's a little too elaborate to be one of your lies. It's at least worth showing up to see for myself."

"Ah, good. Well, we got two days to practice. If there's no one else to gather, we can at least do that."

"No, I did have business elsewhere. I've been working with this doll youkai on a project of mine. As much as she dislikes me, she's willing to help me 'for the sake of my dolls.'"

"Doll youkai? Hm... oh, _that_ doll youkai. Why don't you ask her if she wants to help?"

"I would rather not; I doubt she would help, anyway. It's hard enough to get her to avoid attacking me as it is."

"Fine, fine, I'll just join you and ask her myself."

"That's your choice, but if you get poisoned by her, don't say I didn't offer you a word of warning."

Marisa grins as she makes herself at home in Alice's house, waiting for Alice to depart for her meeting with the doll youkai, Medicine Melancholy.

Near the Hakurei Shrine, Cirno and Dai make their way for a large oak tree. The pair look up, trying to see if anyone is around.

"So, this is where your comrades live?" Dai asks.

"Yep! They make it look like a normal tree, but it's their house. They got it after fighting Yukari for it. If they're that strong, then they'll be able to help us out a lot!" Cirno shouts, before knocking on the tree.

"Hey guys! It's me! Cirno! I got some stuff to tell you! Really big stuff!" Cirno shouts.

The form of the tree gives way to the form of a door as a another fairy opens the door. The fairy has gray eyes and long black hair with a hime-cut with a small, blue ribbon. She's wearing a blue dress with stars adorning it and white sleeves along with brown shoes. She has a pair of translucent blue wings that aren't connected directly to her body.

"Oh, it's you, and you brought your friend with the green hair," replies the fairy.

"Yep! Oh, you guys never met Dai before. Hey Dai, this is Star Sapphire. She's one of my comrades," Cirno speaks.

"A pleasure to meet you," Dai replies in a shy voice.

"Oh, no need to be shy around us. We're just like you, after all," Star replies, "Well, you may as well come in."

Star leads Cirno and Dai inside the tree to be greeted by the sight of two more fairies sitting at a small table. One is eating a cake while the other is reading a newspaper. Both stand to greet the two entering their home.

The fairy eating the cake has blue eyes and short red hair in pigtails secured by a pair of red ribbons. She's wearing a red dress with an open, long sleeved white shirt atop with red ribbons and brown shoes with white socks. She has a pair of red translucent wings that aren't directly connected to her body.

The fairy reading the newspaper has short, curly blond hair and brown eyes. She's wearing a white dress with black ribbons and trim, bearing the design of the different phases of the moon along the edge of the skirt, a white hat with black ribbons, and black shoes with white socks. She has a pair of gray translucent winds that aren't directly connected to her body.

"Hey guys! Meet Dai! And Dai, the one with red hair is Sunny Milk, and the blond is Luna Child," Cirno says.

"Nice to meet you," Dai replies.

"Ah, Cirno! You got some big prank on your mind that requires our expert help?" asks Sunny.

"Of course! But that'll have to wait, I got something really big to tell you about!" Cirno shouts in excitement.

"Try not to exaggerate it too much," Dai replies.

Cirno explains everything she had been through in the current incident, with Dai cutting in to correct Cirno's interpretation when the ice fairy strayed too far from the truth. Sunny, Luna, and Star listened intently, finding the tale to an amazing story.

"So, this market place had food lined up everywhere?" Sunny asks.

"That's not the important part of the story," Luna mutters, before pulling up the paper she was reading, the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, "This situation, right?"

Luna hands the paper to Cirno for her to read over. Cirno gawks at it at some points.

"Wow, it's a little off, like how Yukari made a big explosion underwater, but close enough," Cirno states before handing the paper back to Luna.

"You're reading a current newspaper?" Star asks.

"I do that every now and then. I saw it at the front of the shrine and picked it up, thinking since it was about a war, it would about our little war," Luna replies.

"That was quite a while ago, I doubt that would make headlines now," Star replies.

"So you've inviting us to this war, right?" Sunny asks.

"Yep! We're the strongest there is! We can win this by ourselves, right?" Cirno asks.

"I'm not so sure," Luna mutters.

"We're in!" Sunny shouts.

"I knew you would do that," Luna replies.

"Ah, good. We better prepare ourselves, then. Two days isn't a lot of time. We should keep working on our danmaku," Star states.

"Yeah! I should practice with you. After all, you guys beat that Yukari once, right? I have to learn from you!" Cirno shouts.

"Eh he, yes, that's right," Star replies.

"_We were beaten by her, not the other way around,"_ Luna thinks to herself, recounting the painful experience.

The group of five fairies get to work in improving their danmaku, while Sakuya and Reimu are making their way into the Human Village.

"You think Mokou will be here?" Reimu asks Sakuya.

"I can't be sure of that. I would think so, though," Sakuya replies.

"That last thing we need to happen is for Jin to find a way to extract the Hourai Elixir from Mokou. I couldn't begin to imagine what he would do with it."

"He has your powers, too, I believe. He did take your blood, right?"

"Yeah, and a couple of the Yin-Yang Orbs, but really, they won't help him all that much."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it; only the Hakurei maiden is allowed to know the full power of the orbs, no offense."

"None taken; I wouldn't reveal all my lady's secrets to you, either."

"Well, this is where we part ways. Byakuren's temple is off in this direction."

"Good luck; from what I've heard, she's quite the pacifist."

"She's quite the fighter, too, actually."

Reimu and Sakuya part ways, with Sakuya heading off to Keine's school. Sakuya gently knocks on the door. It was already evening, so Keine should be done with the day's lessons.

"Who is it?" comes a voice from inside.

"It's Sakuya," the maid replies.

"Oh, her again," comes a different voice, this one closer to the door. The door opens to reveal the form of Fujiwara no Mokou.

"Ah, Mokou, so you did make it here," Sakuya states.

"Yeah, yeah, something about these armor guys wanting to dissect me, or something," Mokou replies.

Mokou and Sakuya enter, sitting down at a small table in the living area. The table is a little small for three people, but since they aren't eating, it's suitable.

"What brings you here, Sakuya? Something else happen with the armored men incident?" Keine asks.

"Yes, something did happen. Something big," Sakuya replies.

"I take it this isn't good news?" Mokou asks.

"Not at all," Sakuya replies. Sakuya recounts the recent turn of events for Mokou and Keine, bringing up Jin's declaration of war on Gensokyo.

"That's not good. Nothing like this has ever happened before," Keine replies.

"I've never experienced anything like that while here. Saw plenty of wars before coming to Gensokyo, though," Mokou states.

"Well, this likely won't be anything like the wars of the Outside. Their weapons copy the magic of Gensokyo, so I doubt we'll have to worry about that, but still, we can't be too sure of what to expect," Sakuya says.

"From what you've told us, it's safe to say he could make an army of any size with any amount of power. His only mistake is underestimating everyone," Keine replies.

"Something that'll get you in trouble quick around here," Mokou states.

"I take it you wish for us to join in the upcoming fight?" Keine asks.

"At least to protect the Human Village. We don't know just how far this will spread. I would hate to see something happen to the village here," Sakuya replies.

"Not to mention the problems that would come up if the balance between humans and youkai in Gensokyo was disturbed. I've taken care of enough injured to know it would end terribly," Mokou states.

"I'll take care of protecting the village, you need not worry about it," Keine states.

"I'll join the fight. Being locked up here has been kinda boring. Should be safe with that Jin guy preparing for this war, right?" Mokou asks.

"I would believe so. Still, it would be best of Reimu and I accompanied you, just to be safe. Reimu is off at Byakuren's temple right now. She should be done there soon. I asked her to return here, so we can keep you out of trouble," Sakuya replies.

"Trouble always finds me, you know? Well, no matter. A peaceful walk out of here would be nice, but I'm always up for a good fight, too," Mokou states.

"You really shouldn't let that immortality of yours go to your head," Keine replies.

"I know, I know, you've told me that one a thousand times over. I'll be careful, mom," Mokou states.

Keine mutters something about stubborn humans, getting a chuckle from Mokou, while Sakuya does her best to maintain a straight face.

In another part of the Human Village, Reimu approaches the Temple of Myouren. The wooden temple bears a strong resemblance to the ship it was made from. Reimu collects her wits together before entering. As it is later on in the evening, there aren't too many humans present, many on their way out. Some gave Reimu an odd look, while others ignored her completely as Reimu passes by them. As she makes her way onto porch of the shrine, she is greeted by a girl with black hair and teal eyes. She has a sailor suit with shorts, which is white with teal trim, and a red neckerchief. She has a sailor hat to match her outfit and black shoes, with white, knee high socks. She's carrying a large ship anchor on her back and is in possession of a wooden ladle, hanging from her hip.

"Oh, Reimu. Haven't seen you in a while. What brings you here?" the girl asks.

"An incident, Minamitsu. That's what brings me here," Reimu replies.

"An incident? You're not blaming us, are you?" Minamitsu asks, while appearing to reach for her anchor.

"No, I know who's to blame this time. The problem is that we need help."

"I see," Minamitsu replies, while relaxing at Reimu's response, "What kind of help do you need?"

"It's a bit of a story. Are Byakuren and the others here?"

"They are. They're inside the temple, discussing a few things on her beliefs with a few humans. I was out here to send off the last of the humans as they leave. Looks like the last group is leaving now."

A group of humans walk past the two girls. One gives Reimu a dirty look while passing through, the others ignore her.

"What was that all about?" Reimu asks.

"Don't take it personally; they know you're a youkai exterminator. This temple promotes harmony between youkai and humans, so you're bound to get a few dirty looks from the more dedicated. Even if you're not really killing anyone, just bringing the peace, you're bound to be misunderstood by a few extremists."

"I suppose that's what brought us to our first meeting. Well, should we head inside?"

"We should. Just be careful of what you ask. If it involves disturbing the harmony between youkai and humans..."

"I know. The harmony has already been disturbed. I'll explain it inside."

Minamitsu nods as she leads Reimu into the temple itself. Upon entering, Reimu sees the rest of the crew.

Reimu recognizes Nazrin, the mouse youkai. She's a short girl with gray hair and red eyes with gray mouse ears. She's wearing a dark brown one piece dress with pink sleeves and a gray capelet along with black shoes and pink socks. She has a pair of dowsing rods on her back with the letters of the cardinal directions on their ends.

Next to her is Toramaru Shou, a tiger youkai. She has golden hair with black stripes running through it and golden eyes. She's wearing a burgundy and orange dress with a cloth bearing a tiger fur pattern at her waist and a large white cloth forming her sleeves and a large circle behind her. She has an orange cloth with a lotus pattern in her hair and black shoes below the edge of the white pants she is wearing under her dress. She's carrying a spear on her back and has a lantern-like glowing jewel in her right hand.

Behind Shou and Nazrin is Kumoi Ichirin. She has lavender, wavy, short hair and purple eyes. Her hair is mostly hidden under a dark blue nun's headdress with a one piece white dress with dark blue trim. She's wearing black shoes with a red ribbon around the ankle and gray knee high socks and carrying a golden ring in her right hand leading to the form of a pink cloud bearing an old man's face with a beard and mustache.

In front of the other three youkai is Hijiri Byakuren herself. She has long, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. She's wearing a black and white dress with strips of black fabric over the middle and strips of white fabric over the arms. She's wearing black shoes with black socks that also have white strips of fabric going over them. On her person is a rolled up scroll.

Off in another corner of the temple is another youkai, Houjuu Nue. She has short, black hair and dark red eyes. She's wearing a black one piece dress with a thigh length skirt bearing a red pattern, with a red ribbon at the collar. She has a pair of black thigh highs going up to her skirt and red shoes with red ribbons. On her left arm is a black wrist band, while on her right is a blue snake coiled up the length of her arm. She has three red, blade-like wings on her right and three blue tail-like wings with spades at their ends on her left. She's carrying a pitchfork on her back.

"Even Nue is here?" Reimu asks.

"She's been here for a while," Minamitsu replies.

Byakuren sees Reimu approaching with Minamitsu and ends her conversation with Shou, Ichirin, and Nazrin. Byakuren walks up to Reimu, bowing slightly as a greeting.

"Ah, Reimu, so good to see you again. What brings you to my temple today? It may be a little late, but if you seek a little guidance, I'd be more than glad to accommodate you," Byakuren states.

"I wish I was here for spiritual guidance; unfortunately, there is a rather serious incident in the works," Reimu replies.

"An incident? Reimu, I know you exterminate youkai to settle matters. As the youkai you have dealt with all come to befriend you in some way or form at the end, I leave you to your business, but I can't allow myself to help you."

"It's not that kind of incident. This one isn't even the work of youkai; it's the work of humans. They want to wipe out all of Gensokyo, human and youkai alike."

Nue looks up in surprise, not expecting to hear about an incident of this type, appearing bored and ready to head out just moments before. The others equally bear expressions of surprise upon their faces.

"Perhaps you would like to fill us in on all of the details?" Byakuren asks.

Reimu nods in response as she recounts the tale of the incident up to that point in time. Even Nue is listening intently to the conversation at hand, not liking the idea of someone trying to destroy the place she calls home.

"This is a rather severe matter," Byakuren states.

"To think something like this could happen," Shou says.

"If these guys want to mess with Gensokyo, then I'm in on this. I'm not about to sit around and do nothing!" Nue shouts.

"I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic, Nue, but thank you. So, Byakuren, are you willing to help?" Reimu asks.

"I don't like the idea of fighting at all, but someone who threatens both humans and youkai is an enemy. I will aid you," Byakuren replies.

"As will I," Minamitsu adds in.

"We'll help," Ichirin states, the pink cloud, Unzan, appearing to nod in approval.

"I'll aid you, Reimu," Shou replies.

"I can't stand still if the others will help, I'm in, too," Nazrin states.

"Thank you, all of you," Reimu replies.

"So, we're all set to gather at the base of the south face of Youkai Mountain in two days, right?" Byakuren asks.

"That is correct," Reimu replies.

"Hard to believe that even Yukari is looking for help for something like this; these guys must really be serious," Nue states.

"They're weak alone, but they have numbers. That's what worries me," Reimu replies.

"So it's a battle of numbers is it?" Byakuren asks.

"They also have Outside World technology. That also bothers me," Reimu states.

"Then this could be a tough battle. Two days isn't a lot of time, but we'll be ready," Shou replies.

Everyone present nods in agreement.

"Reimu, you're welcome to spend the night, if you wish," Byakuren states.

"I would, but I can't; I promised to meet up with someone. Thank you all the same," Reimu replies.

"Very well, Reimu, be careful on your return to your shrine, and may the spirits of Gensokyo protect you.

Reimu bows and takes her leave of the temple, heading to her rendezvous point with Sakuya at the gate of the Human Village. Mokou and Sakuya are there waiting. By the time Reimu arrives, the sun has nearly set.

"What took you?" Mokou asks.

"Byakuren isn't one you can just go in an ask, you know," Reimu replies.

"I suppose," Mokou replies.

"We best get going before it gets too late. We should spend the night at Eientei, getting into fights with youkai while trying to get home would be a bother. The mistress expects that I will not return right away," Sakuya states.

"Alright, we'll do that, then. I doubt any youkai would be foolish enough to take on all three of us," Reimu states.

"They wouldn't fight me at all in the forest," Mokou replies.

The trio of Reimu, Sakuya, and Mokou make their way into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost as night falls. Being the most familiar with the terrain, Mokou leads the way. Not once is the group assaulted by the armored men.

"Seems like our friends aren't going to bother to make an appearance for the next couple of days," Mokou states.

"It's for the better. I would rather not have to see them again at all, really," Reimu replies.

"Likewise; I would rather this incident end, but life isn't that convenient," Sakuya states.

"Hey, you guys hungry? We're close to a food stand; figured I would ask," Mokou states.

"There's a food stand out here?" Reimu asks.

"Yeah, it was started up a little while after the endless night incident. The food isn't bad, really, you just have to get past the personality of the youkai running the stand," Mokou replies.

"It's run by a youkai?" Reimu asks.

"Relax, the food is safe. If it could kill, I would have noticed," Mokou replies.

"It would be best to get something, Reimu. I don't believe Mokou has reason to trick us, after all," Sakuya states.

"Fine, fine, but if I get sick or something, I'm killing you and sealing you," Reimu states while pointing at Sakuya and Mokou.

The trio approach a small, wooden food stand. It has seating for five people. A song is being sung from behind the counter. There is a single person at the stand. The person has short green hair with what appears to be a pair of bug antennae and blue eyes. The person is wearing a white long sleeve short, blue, baggy shorts, and a black cape which is red on the inside and bears a resemblance to a beetle's wings. The person also has red shoes with white socks. The person looks to be of either gender.

"Yo! Wriggle!" Mokou shouts.

"Hm? Oh, Mokou! And the maid and miko... what brings you to this part of the woods? Remember to eat?" Wriggle asks in a sarcastic tone.

"If I remembered to eat, would I come here?" Mokou asks in a joking tone.

"Hey! I heard that!" comes a shout from the stand. A youkai girl stands up and walks around to greet Mokou's group. The girl has short pink hair and gray eyes with ears pointed up like an owl's. She's wearing a white long sleeve shirt with a brown, one piece dress over top with a knee length skirt. The dress is adorned with bird-like ornaments. She has dark brown shoes and pink knee-high socks with ribbons resembling wings. The girl has a pair of bird wings with purple highlights on the feathers and a brown hat with a small pair of wings matching hers on top.

"You take that joke too seriously, Mystia," Mokou replies.

"I know, I know," Mystia replies, "Not used to seeing you with company. Something happen, or did those two get in a fight and need to get healed at Eientei?"

"It's a bit of a tale," Mokou states.

"That's one way to put it," Reimu replies.

"Well, you're here, might as well tell us about it while I cook up your lamprey. You did come here to eat, right?" Mystia asks.

"Yeah, we did," Mokou answers.

"Good, good. Guess I don't have to sing to get you guys to eat. So, what's the story of the day?" Mystia asks.

"It's been more than a day," Reimu replies.

"And it'll continue on for at least another couple," Sakuya states.

Mystia and Wriggle both bear a confused look as the group explains the situation to the pair of youkai. Both of them appear to be in shock at hearing what has taken place, finding the idea of a human declaring war on Gensokyo to be something out of a nightmare.

"So this guy wants to wipe out all of Gensokyo?" Wriggle asks.

"Seems like it," Mokou replies.

"That's crazy; how could any one being, a human nonetheless, have the resources to do that?" Mystia asks.

"We don't know, we just know he has those resources, and that we need to do something about it," Reimu replies.

"I'm not going to stand by and watch; I'll join in," Wriggle states.

"If you four are in this, then so am I. You need all the help you can get, right?" Mystia asks.

"We do, I suppose," Reimu states, not having much confidence in the pair. After having fought both during the endless night incident, she didn't have too much faith in their abilities.

"Any help is help. If this really does become a battle of numbers, then we'll want to have as many as we can," Sakuya states.

"I'd get you some more help, but I don't see too many youkai here, only lost humans, and none of them have power," Mystia replies.

"Not to mention we don't have all that much time. Just a day and a half isn't much for recruiting," Wriggle states.

"It's okay, we've made sure to get as much help as we can from as many as we can. Besides, I've dealt with worse than this before," Reimu states.

"Reimu, what is worse than this?" Sakuya asks.

"Well, there was that incident with the Hell Raven trying to turn Gensokyo into the new Hell," Reimu replies.

"That was the work of one person working by herself," Sakuya replies.

"And from what I know of her, I doubt she could have pulled it off, anyway," Mokou states.

"Alright, alright, geez, I was just trying to be optimistic," Reimu replies.

"It's alright, Reimu, we know it'll be a little dangerous, but who cares, right Mystia?" Wriggle asks.

"Exactly. I've even been eaten by a ghost before, you know. In comparison to that, this doesn't seem so bad," Mystia states. She turns to her grill, seeing the lamprey she had been cooking finish. She places them on plates for everyone. As the group begins eating, a loud shouting of Mystia's name could be heard from the forest.

"Friend of yours?" Mokou asks.

"An acquaintance of sorts," Mystia replies as the voice gets louder. The source of the shouts could be seen in the form of Cirno. She was with Dai, Sunny, Star, and Luna.

"Hey! Mystia! You'll never believe what happened!" Cirno shouts.

"Does it have anything to do with men in strange armor?" Mystia asks.

"Huh? Uh... yeah, yeah! How did you know? You become a psychic?" Cirno asks.

Mystia rolls her eyes as she points at Reimu, Sakuya, and Mokou.

"Huh? Oh, they told you about it?" Cirno asks.

Mystia grits her teeth and nods, avoiding the sarcastic comment she was about to make.

"So you in?" Cirno nods.

"Hey, we aren't about to miss out on the fun. Have to prove the power of insects just like you have to prove the power of fairies, right?" Wriggle asks.

"You got that right!" Cirno shouts.

"Yeah! Fairies outnumber everyone, you know! We could take over Gensokyo if we wanted to!" Sunny shouts.

Dai, Star, and Luna look doubtful of the statement, but opt to let their friends have their moment.

"Well, since you guys made it out here, want some lamprey?" Mystia asks.

"Sure! Your cooking is the best!" Cirno shouts.

"We've never eaten here before, so why not?" Star asks.

"I say we eat here tonight; I don't feel like going back home, anyway," Sunny shouts.

"Might as well try something a little different," Luna states.

The group enjoy a small meal at Mystia's stand. Since Sakuya is the only one with any amount of money, she ended up paying for the fairies. Reimu and Wriggle are the only ones who could pay for themselves. Mystia ran out of lamprey and decided to close for the night, seeing as she made a good handful of money off the group. Mokou offers to take the others to Eientei, mainly to annoy Kaguya, which the other youkai accept. The group takes off for Eientei, spending the night there in peace.

Throughout Gensokyo, all the youkai and humans tied into the incident prepare for a night of rest, excepting those who are usually awake at night. All know the coming battle will pose one of the greatest challenges they have ever faced, and are doing their best to make sure they'll be ready.

At Mountain Base, Jin was preparing his group for the coming battle. He was in conversation with S-Zero-One over the coming fight.

"So, you won't have the Ex units ready?" Jin asks.

"Afraid not. The personality is proving a challenge. Putting them in this battle at this point would add in a variable we don't want to try to deal with. Perhaps you should have stayed with the original time-table?" S-Zero-One asks.

"I changed it, because I needed to. Things aren't going the way they should at this point; I need to put up a definite show of force; show these people that we're not some kind of joke."

"So you're doing this because you lost a few fights? Is that it?"

"That's part of it, but it's not all of it. I can't let them get too confident. I have to put fear in their hearts; let them know what I can do to them."

"So it's about psychological warfare, is it?"

"More or less. Since _it_ is ready, that should more than shake them up."

"Yes, we have completed the final unit, but are you sure you want to use it? I believe we should make a copy of it, just in case."

"It would take too long to replicate something like that. You know she'll be busy enough as is with the other supplies we need. We barely have enough time for that as is."

"If time is what worries you, then perhaps you should have thought more on your deadline."

"It'll be fine. They won't be able to destroy it. Even if they did, it's not like we don't have the plans for making another one, anyway. It's not critical to any future parts of my plan, so I don't have to worry about it."

"If you insist; it's not like I can stop you."

"Good, at least you know that much. Now then, I need to see the lady," Jin states as he makes his way to his personal room. Once inside, he takes off his armor, leaving on the skin tight, dark red under-suit. He puts on a pair of black combat boots and makes his way for the shrine. Upon entering the room, he kneels before the large throne.

"My lady, what is our status," Jin asks.

"This entire operation is pointless, you know," comes the voice of the woman of the shrine.

"A show of force will shake them; it's not about winning, it's about fear. Fear of what we can really do."

"Fear? You think they will fear you? You've failed your last few missions. They likely think of you as a joke."

"I doubt this. I could see it in their faces. Even Yukari fears what we could do. She's seen what kind of technology can be brought into the world, and if she feels fear, then the others will, too."

"Yukari? Fearing you? Very well, if you insist, I'll continue. I've already created half of the units you needed. The rest will be ready by the time tomorrow is done. That's what you wanted, right?"

"It is."

"Fine. The units are in the hanger, you may inspect them if you wish. The soldiers are in stasis and have the latest combat strategies you've implemented placed in their minds, as well as your more up to date knowledge of the abilities of the stronger youkai of the land."

"Good, just what I was hoping for, my lady."

Jin stands up, his face lit by the lights in the room. He has the same wavy brown hair, black eyes, and tanned skin. He had one other identifying feature, a scar going down the left side of his face; he is also missing part of his left ear.

"Kario, do not expect to win using technology. I don't know what happened in your world, but the youkai of this land and much more adept than you give them credit for," the woman states.

"I understand, Lady Tiara," Jin/Kario replies.

"Good, keep this in mind," Tiara replies, as she steps out from the shadows of the large machine behind her. Tiara has long, straight red hair down to her calves and blood red eyes. She's wearing a tight, black long sleeve shirt with a red, once piece dress. There are several maroon ribbons going down the sides of the dress, with a large bow at the back of the waist and another ribbon on her chest. There were small, round, pink jewels around the hem of the calf length skirt. She has red shoes with maroon socks. She had a red mop hat with a large, maroon bow at it's top. She is carrying what appears to be a square mirror with a red frame, except the glass is black, yet can still reflect like a mirror.

"This nuclear reactor of yours give a boost to my power, but there are still limits I must follow to avoid wearing myself out. If this does not work, do not expect me to make you another army of this size so soon," Tiara states.

"I understand, my lady. I will not make such a request," Jin replies.

"I will contact you when I am finished replicating the units; do not disturb me until then. Using my ability to this extent requires much focus."

Jin nods in reply, turning around to leave the room, while Tiara returns to the the chamber within the nuclear reactor behind her. The pair continue their work, making sure of their preparations for the coming battle.


	11. Calm Before the Storm

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice, I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 11 – Calm Before the Storm**

The trio of Ran, Chen, and Genichiro continue to make their way through the Forest of Magic. A short time ago, Yukari had taken the group of three to Kourindou, with the intention of getting Rinnosuke to help out in the coming war. After her business was finished, she left the group behind in order to ask for the help of Yuyuko and Youmu in Hakugyokurou, leaving orders to Ran to further recruit for the coming battles. Ran knew no one Yukari would not recruit personally, interpreting the command as an order to rest and prepare herself and her shikigami. Genichiro offered them a chance to join him in his return to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, leading to their current situation.

"Blasted fairies," Genichiro mutters, as he sends out a danmaku blast at one of the small fairies in the forest. The recent turn of events has stirred up the fairy population, resulting in the random attacks typically seen during an incident in Gensokyo.

"If the fairies are attacking as they are, it's a sure sign an event is about to shake Gensokyo," Ran states, as she takes out a pair of fairies foolish enough to attack her.

"Fairies are fun to play with in small numbers, though. I like it when they get like this!" Chen shouts, while jumping through the air and playfully swatting at a few of the fairies.

"Maybe we should just fly over the forest as opposed to walking through it?" Ran asks.

"We could, I'm surely considering it, but these little ones do make for some good target practice, even if they are acting like a bunch of pests," Genichiro replies, while sniping a group of fairies laying in wait at the end of the path before them.

A wave of twenty fairies suddenly appear and begin attacking the trio. Genichiro has a good laugh while grazing through all of their shots, as does Chen, while Ran lets out a low growl in response. Before the trio can attack the group, a wave of fire danmaku takes out the group.

"Blasted imps do nothing but give us all a bad name," comes a voice from behind the group. The source of the voice flies towards the group, just hovering above the ground. The person being a female fairy. She has the height and form of a ten year old, though she does have A-cup sized breasts. She has long, red hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a red, one-piece dress with short sleeves and red shoes with orange socks. She has two pairs of red, translucent wings, not directly attached to her body.

She is followed by another fairy with pink hair in a ponytail, tied with a band made of pink carnations and red eyes. The other fairy is about the same height as the first, but has a more childish body. She is wearing a pink, one-piece sleeveless dress over a white shirt, and pink shoes with red laces and white socks. She has a pair of blue, translucent wings, not directly attached to her body.

"Nice little show, come to challenge us?" Ran asks.

"Nothing of the sort. I've been too busy fighting off my own kind, and it's starting to get rather tiring. Bad enough I keep having to look out for these strange men," replies the fairy with red hair.

"Strange men?" Genichiro asks.

"Yeah, men in strange armor. They attacked and captured a friend of mine a little while ago. I was hoping to go see if she was okay today, but all the other fairies are riled up over something. It's like an incident is about to take place," the fairy replies.

"You've dealt with the armored men before?" Ran asks.

"Yeah. The one in red blew my head off! I'm glad I didn't feel it, but still," the fairy replies.

"What's your name, if I may ask?" Genichiro asks.

"Hm? I am En, this is Kanna. I know you are Yakumo Ran. This must be your shikigami, Chen. I've never heard of, nor seen you before," the red haired fairy replies.

"Ookami Genichiro, kind of new to here. Long story short, I come from another world, the place where the armored men came from," Genichiro explains.

"From another world? Interesting. Did the gap youkai, Yukari-sama, bring you here?" En asks.

"No, I used the technology of the armored men to get here," Genichiro replies.

"You must know a lot about them, then. I don't suppose you know what their weaknesses are?" En asks.

"We would love to entertain you, but we need to continue on our way," Ran says.

"Fine, fine. I won't stand in your way. I have my own destination in mind," En replies, while heading off with Kanna in the direction Ran, Chen, and Genichiro are heading. After walking along for a while, En stops, wondering why the trio is following her.

"I thought you had somewhere to be?" En asks.

"We do. Where are you heading?" Ran asks.

"To that mansion on the lake," En replies.

"Then it would seem we have the same destination," Genichiro states.

"Odd that a pair of fairies would be interested in visiting the Scarlet Devil Mansion," Ran states.

"From what you've said, you know Flandre, right?" Genichiro asks.

"Yeah. I was there when she was taken. The one in red is rather strong; I only managed to put a couple of scratches on him," En replies.

"You managed to actually cause damage to him?" Genichiro asks.

"Is that so hard to believe?" En replies.

"You're not the typical fairy, are you," Ran asks.

"A century ago, I was just as cocky as the ice fairy that resides around Misty Lake. It took another for me to finally get past that," En replies.

"So you're over two hundred years old, then?" Genichiro asks.

"Rather long lived for a fairy. Most re-merge with the nature they came from after a century and a half, mainly from being killed too many times," Ran states.

"I'm more cautious than the average fairy. Maybe it's because all of the fairies I grew up with were killed so many times they did as you say. Seeing that taught me to work on my abilities more, and be less spontaneous. I'm strong for a fairy, but I won't be challenging Lady Yukari to a fight anytime soon," En explains.

"A wise choice, Lady Yukari is not one to take lightly," Ran replies.

"I'm well aware; I've never met her personally, but I've heard more than enough," En states.

"She sounds scary, " Kanna replies.

"Only if you get on her bad side," Ran says.

"Something Jin should make himself more aware of," Genichiro mutters to himself.

"She's no more scary than Flandre, really, and I was scared to death of her up until we talked to her," En states.

"So you really are friends with Flan-chan, huh?" Genichiro asks.

"Yeah. You're one of her friends, too?" En asks.

"Yep. She kind of dropped in on me one day," Genichiro replies.

"She dropped in on you?" Kanna asks.

"Literally," Genichiro replies.

"Um... literally?" Kanna asks.

"He means Flandre actually dropped on top of him. Sorry, Kanna is as shy as she is immature, but she's still my closest friend. Anyway, it'll be a few minutes before we get to the mansion. I don't suppose you three could explain what's going on? Something tells me you know what's riled up all the other fairies," En states.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you. It is part of my orders," Ran states, _"If I were take my orders literally, anyway."_

Ran and Genichiro explain to En and Kanna the events that had taken place since they had been in the fight where Flandre was captured. Kanna didn't understand some parts of the story, leaving En to fill in the details for her. En was surprised at the idea of a parallel world, but took it in along with the rest of the story, finding no reason to doubt any part of it.

"I see. A war against Gensokyo, that's why the balance has been off," En replies.

"The balance?" Chen asks.

"The balance of nature. It's always disrupted in the wake of an incident. Usually, the scale tips towards youkai; it's rare for it to tip towards humans, such as it is now. Whichever way it gets disrupted, though, it stirs up the fairies as a result, since they are easily controlled by the nature they are a part of," Ran explains.

"A greater fairy such as myself is separated enough from nature to not be affected by it. Kanna here isn't at that level, and would be attacking you right now if I wasn't with her, no offense, Kanna," En replies.

"It's okay, En. I know. That's why I'm trying to get stronger, so I can be like you one day," Kanna states.

"I didn't know there was a fairy like you in this land," Ran says.

"I've distanced myself from the incidents that have taken place. I prefer to stay away from those of greater power, and only attack to defend myself. That's probably why you've never heard of me before," En replies.

"It would be nice if the rest of your kind would take such precautions," Ran states.

"But that wouldn't be as fun!" Chen replies.

"That, and this walk would be a little too uneventful," Genichiro says, as he sends out a burst of danmaku as a small group of fairies charging towards the group.

The group finally emerges from the forest, and starts out over the lake. A few more fairies appear to attack to group, but no strong youkai or armored men appear.

"So, that base they had was under here, right?" En asks.

"Yeah, a little ways off in that direction," Genichiro replies, while pointing off to his right.

"I thought so. A lot of the fairies were talking about seeing a massive explosion over there. I was resting at the time, so I didn't see it. I thought they were just exaggerating some spell card duel between a pair of youkai, so I didn't think anything of it at the time. To think those men were there the whole time, though," En states.

"You know, we haven't seen Cirno out here," Kanna says.

"You're right. She's usually running around out here, always looking for a chance to prove she's the strongest, especially during an incident. Odd to not see her running around with the other fairies out here," En replies.

"She might be elsewhere. She did say she was going to do some recruiting of her own," Genichiro states.

"I can't imagine who she had in mind, though," Ran replies.

"More fairies, I'm sure. I hope it's at least greater fairies. I hate to say it, but bringing common fairies to a fight will help one lose before helping one to victory," En states.

"I would tend to agree, though, they do make good distractions," Ran replies.

"We do?" Kanna asks.

"Well, Flan's sister did _throw_ Cirno at an armored man. I would have liked to see that one," En replies.

"Me, too," Kanna replies.

Genichiro, Ran, and Chen chuckle a little at the thought, having also wished they had the chance to see it personally as they continued along, the island finally coming into view.

"Well, looks like clear sailing from here. I am starting to get tired of frying fairies," Genichiro says.

"Aw, but I like playing with the fairies," Chen replies.

"Guh, I swear, that hurts, even though it shouldn't," En mutters.

"Not every fairy can be like you, right, En-san," Kanna asks.

"Unfortunately, but it would be nice if more tried," En replies.

"Let's get going. I would rather not be out here at night, lest we end up with even more problems," Ran states, taking the lead ahead of the rest of the group.

"It's more fun at night, though," Chen states.

"I would tend to agree, but we should rest up," Genichiro replies.

Chen nods in understanding as the group finally reaches the front gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Stop right there!" Meiling shouts.

"Oh, hey Meiling. Good to see your still doing your best," Genichiro states.

"Ah, Genichiro. Hm, and Lady Yukari's shikigami. And you two... we've met before, right?" Meiling asks.

"En, and this is Kanna. We were with Flandre during that skirmish with the armored men," En replies.

"Oh, that's right. Well, I know Genichiro is welcome, but, I can't speak for the rest of you," Meiling states.

"Well, I guess I could just get Sakuya and see if she can clear it with Remilia," Genichiro replies.

"Sakuya is still out; she likely won't be back until tomorrow," Meiling states.

"Oh, well, I guess I could ask on my own," Genichiro replies.

"We could just make our way in," Ran states, allowing some killing intent to drift towards Meiling. Meiling shivers a little from the stare of the stronger youkai, but holds her ground.

"It would be best if we didn't make a mess. I would rather not upset Remilia, seeing as I'm her guest for the time being," Genichiro states.

"Very well," Ran replies, _"Not that I was really going to attack without explicit orders from Lady Yukari."_

Meiling allows Genichiro to pass, giving him entrance to the mansion. Upon entering, Genichiro makes his way for Remilia's chamber, only to be ambushed by Flandre.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts.

"Ah, Flan-chan!" Genichiro replies. Flandre runs up to embrace Genichiro, who returns it with a warm expression.

"I was hoping you would be back soon. It feels lonely enough without Sakuya."

"Yeah, I was thinking she would be back by now. I guess there are some things even she can't speed up."

"She does like to spend a little time away from the mansion to solve incidents and such. Like this one time where we had this really long winter. Sakuya was out for a few days then."

"I can only imagine how much trouble it was keeping the mansion going during all of that."

"It wasn't that bad, but the fairy maids don't cook meals like Sakuya does."

"There's some things you just have to have the talent for. So, is your sister awake?"

"Hm, yeah? Why?"

"Well, I came with some others that would like entrance. Meiling won't let them in without orders, and none of them want to pick a fight right now."

"Who?"

"Lady Yukari's shikigami, and a couple of fairies, the ones you told me about before when you were at my old house in the world I came from."

"En and Kanna!"

"Yep!"

"Yay! Okay, let's ask Remi-nee together!"

Genichiro and Flandre continue to Remilia's chamber. Genichiro politely knocks on the door.

"Remilia, it's Genichiro," Genichiro states.

"And I'm here, too!" Flandre shouts.

"You may enter," comes Remilia's voice. Genichiro gently opens to the door to see Remilia sitting at a desk. She appears to be going through some spell cards.

"Remi-nee! We have guests!" Flandre shouts.

"Oh? What kind of guests?" Remilia asks.

Yakumo Ran and Chen, as well as a pair of fairies who are friends with Flan-chan," Genichiro replies.

"Yukari's shikigami?" Remilia asks.

"She left us behind at Kourindou, stating she had business elsewhere," Genichiro replies.

"I see. Well, I have no problem with their entrance, as long as they don't cause trouble. I don't need another headache right now," Remilia states.

"Something wrong?" Genichiro asks.

"Hmm? No, no, it's nothing," Remilia replies.

"Remi-nee, you don't sound like your okay," Flandre states.

"Well... this incident... it has me worried," Remilia replies.

"You, worried?" Flandre asks.

"They had me worried sick when they took you before. And now there's this war. I don't want to see any of you hurt, not even China. Your the only family I have left," Remilia replies.

"We're all strong, Remi-nee, we can take these people on!" Flandre shouts.

"But they were able to capture you before! How can you be so sure!" Remilia shouts in a frustrated tone.

"You just have to believe," Genichiro states, "Believe that things will work out."

"Just believe, eh?" Remilia asks.

"If you're worried about everyone getting hurt, then make sure no one gets hurt. If someone does get hurt, make the ones responsible pay for it ten-fold. That's how I've always done things. You just have to believe in your own strength," Genichiro replies.

"Yeah! I believe in myself, Remi-nee. We all do! And we all want to make sure you're safe, too. I don't want to see my Remi-nee get hurt, and I'll kyuu anyone that tries it!" Flandre shouts.

"You guys... thank you. I needed to hear that. I've just been so flustered, ever since they took you, Flan. Even when we got you back, I was still a little worried. I give my thanks to you, too, Genichiro. I'm glad to have been able to meet you," Remilia says.

"Hey, don't make it sound like we're never going to see each other again after this, okay? I promise you both we'll all make it through this just fine," Genichiro states.

"Yeah, and Gen-kun wouldn't break his promises! I know he won't!" Flandre shouts.

Remilia gives a slight grin in response, seeing her sister have so much faith in a man she hadn't known for longer than a week.

"_You two... I see, it's fate. Fate brought you two together, and it'll keep you two together. I've never been wrong before, thanks to my ability,"_ Remilia thinks to herself, while still bearing her grin.

"You better keep that promise, Genichiro. I'll kill you if you die, got it?" Remilia asks.

"Understood, Remilia!" Genichiro shouts, like a soldier taking an order.

"Go let our guests in. I'll inform the maids to prepare meals for additional company tonight," Remilia says.

Genichiro and Flan nod as they leave Remilia's room, gently closing the door behind them. Remilia calls for a group of fairy maids, hoping at least one of them will be able to properly convey her orders to the others.

The pair return to the gate, where the others are waiting. Flan runs past everyone to hug En and Kanna at seeing them again.

"En! Kanna! You guys are okay!" Flandre shouts.

"We're fairies, we always come back, right?" En replies, while trying not to get crushes.

"Always... can't... breath..." Kanna stutters out.

Flandre releases the pair of fairies, with Kanna struggling to breath, while En shakes it off.

"We were worried about you after those armored men showed up, even more so when the fairies started going crazy," En says.

"We wanted to see if you were okay, so we made our way here," Kanna states.

"I'm glad you came! I was worried about you guys, too. Did you meet Gen-kun yet? He's really nice! I like him a lot!" Flandre shouts.

"We all came here together. He does seem like a good man," En replies.

"Thanks," Genichiro replies, while bearing a grin.

Ran coughs to get the groups attention, causing Genichiro and Flan to turn towards Meiling.

"Remi-nee says to let them in as guests," Flandre says.

"Okay, you guys are free to enter. Just stay out of trouble," Meiling replies.

"It's not like Marisa is with us, you know," Genichiro states.

"And black-white nee would just charge in, like she always does," Flandre replies.

"Well, yes, that's true," Meiling says.

"Relax, I would say the same, regardless. All guests welcomed to the Yakumo home should mind their manners, as I'm sure your mistress would agree of allowing guests into her home," Ran states.

Meiling nods before resuming her watch over the area. The Scarlet Devil Mansion gate guard continues to express the diligence she's had since the start of the incident, something which all the mansion staff wish she could have all the time.

The group enters the mansion to be greeted by Remilia, who does a small curtsy before speaking.

"Welcome to my home. Dinner will be served soon, in the mean time, I have some tea prepared along with some light before dinner snacks," Remilia says.

"That does sound nice, after a long day, right Chen?" Ran asks.

"Yes, Lady Ran!" Chen shouts.

"Remember to mind your manners, now," Ran states, "And keep your voice down, we're not outside."

"Okay, Lady Ran," Chen replies in a milder tone.

"A little tea does sound like a good idea," En replies.

"Oh, you're the ones from before, right?" Remilia asks.

"We are. I'm honored you remember us," En replies.

"You're no ordinary fairy. You seem to have a more solid head on your shoulders than most. Something I appreciate. Well, come now, let us enjoy some small talk over tea," Remilia replies, as she leads the group to her dining room.

Upon entering the large room, everyone notes there are nine seats set with small teacups and saucers. There are two plates with tea cakes set up at the far end of the room. Patchouli and Koakuma are already seated, with Patchouli next to the head of the table. Flandre takes a seat next to Remilia on the other side of the table, along with Genichiro to her right, followed by En and Kanna. Ran and Chen sit next to Koakuma. A pair of fairy maids pour some tea for everyone. Flandre starts off the conversation, sharing her adventures with En and Kanna. Even though the pair knew most of the story from before, they enjoyed hearing Flandre's version of it. They enjoyed Flandre's description of Genichiro's world, finding the place to be of interest. After the tale, dinner was ready, which consisted of roast leg of lamb, mashed potatoes, and a seasoned vegetable medley. Over dinner, Genichiro brought up his side trip with Yukari, and what took place at Kourindou, getting a grin out of Remilia and a chuckle out of Flandre at the idea of Genichiro being Rinnosuke's assistant. Genichiro grumbled to himself about it, furthering the grins he received. Ran kept a straight face, as did Patchouli, though Koakuma, Chen, and the fairies couldn't help but join in. For dessert, the maids prepared light cakes topped with fresh strawberries.

"Have to say, your maid staff is still fairly talented. Not at Sakuya's level, but much higher up than anything I could ever hope to accomplish," Genichiro says.

"Thank you. Sakuya has done well to train the fairy staff, in case of her absence," Remilia replies.

"You do have a fine household, Remilia, better so than Lady Yukari," Ran states.

"Lady Yukari sleeps too much to keep things organized," Chen adds, earning a glare from Ran.

"Sakuya is the best! I can't wait for her to get back," Flandre says.

"I won't argue the point, especially after that meal she made at my house. She's the MacGyver of the kitchen," Genichiro states.

"I would agree, from what I've heard," Ran replies.

"The what?" Remilia asks.

"Oh, Outside world reference, sorry," Genichiro replies, "Basically, it's a way of saying Sakuya could make an elegant meal, even if all she had to work with were some table scraps."

"She did that, too, during the long winter incident," Remilia replies.

"I remember that! I wondered where all the food came from, since she kept saying we were running out of stuff," Flandre says.

"Well, I think we should retire for the night. As much as I would rather remain awake, we need to be accustomed to being active during the day for the coming battle," Ran states.

"Yes, something that I've found to be rather difficult. I've already had rooms prepared for you in advance. The staff will show the way. Good evening, Ran, Chen," Remilia replies.

"Good evening to you, Remilia," Ran states before taking a bow. Chen does the same before the pair head off.

"I must get back to the library. I'll be sure to get some rest. I ordered Koakuma to force me to sleep with a spell, should I become too involved in one of my books. Goodnight, Remi," Patchouli says, before departing for the library.

"We should rest, too, Kanna. Thank you for the meal, Remilia-san," En says.

"You are welcome," Remilia replies, as the pair are lead to their room.

"I guess I should turn in, too. I want to get some practice in tomorrow. Thank you for the fine meal, Remilia," Genichiro says.

"Can you stay up a little longer, please?" Flandre asks.

"Well, I suppose, if your sister doesn't mind. We do need to get some sleep, though," Genichiro says, while looking in Remilia's direction.

"Don't stay up too late. I'm retiring for the night as well, as odd as that sounds. Such a shame to waste such a beautiful night as this one. Goodnight," Remilia replies as she makes her way for her room.

Flandre leads Genichiro to one of the living areas in the mansion. The room is fairly small in comparison to many of the other rooms of the mansion, large enough for three couches around a small table, with a fireplace in place of a fourth couch. There are smaller tables between the couches. The cushions are a deep crimson, lying on oak frames. There are a few fire lamps lit in the room, while the fireplace lies dormant.

"This is a cozy little place," Genichiro says, as he takes a seat on the couch facing the fireplace. Flandre sits next to him.

"Yeah, I usually stay in my room. I've spent so much time down there, I've grown used to it. It wasn't until right after the incident when Remi-nee released her scarlet mist did I get the chance to move about in the house," Flandre replies.

"How long were you down there beforehand?"

"About 495 years."

"That's... a long time to be locked in a room."

"Remi-nee said it was for my own protection. She would never lie to me, so I stayed and stayed. When I heard there were humans here, though, strong ones at that, I had to meet them, to see just how strong they were."

"So that's when you met Reimu and Marisa, right?"

"Yeah. I challenged them to a danmaku fight, one right after the other."

"So not at the same time?"

"No, Black-white nee came first. I think she came to borrow some books from Patchy. She looked a little startled the first time I saw her. I'm not surprised, though. Remi-nee never told anyone I was around. She said it would be bad if people knew I was there, that they might try to harm me or do something bad to me."

"That is possible. Even with your strength, if someone of the right caliber came here, they could have tried to seal you away, or something like that."

"That's what Red-white nee wanted to do at first. I had a little too much fun with Black-white nee, and Remi-nee was worried about me, so she sent Red-white nee here. She tried to seal me, but after our danmaku fight, she changed her mind."

"So Remilia tried to have Reimu seal you, or did Reimu decide that for herself."

"Remi-nee was a little upset with Red-white nee for trying to seal me, but she didn't, so it's okay. We're all friends now. I don't see Red-white nee too often, but I see Black-white nee all the time."

"Always after Patchy's books, right?"

"She comes to see me, too. She says I'm a good person to practice new spells with, since I won't get beaten by the strong magic she comes up with. I love it when she comes up with new spells! They're so much fun to play with! Except when she comes up with another Master Spark spell. Those kinda hurt when they hit."

"I don't doubt it. I'm glad I've yet to be on the receiving end of one of those. I doubt it would be a pleasant experience, and I've experienced quite a lot."

"Like what?"

"Oh, quite a bit. It's hard to think of something specific... hm... ah, I know a good one, one I remember fairly well. It was this life when I was a fighter pilot."

"A fighter pilot? What's that?"

"Well, it's a person who controls these flying machines. The machines fired bullets out, so that's why they were called fighters."

"Why didn't you just fly yourself and use your own bullets?"

"I couldn't always use magic in my past lives. There were times when I had really stubborn bodies that wouldn't let me use any magic. I never liked those lives. It would take forever just to figure out how to shoot a simple bullet, let alone use a spell card."

"Did you have someone like Red-white nee make different rules for spell cards?"

"Not really. It was just something accepted. There never was one person who tried to make a revised, unified system. It wouldn't have worked too well, anyway, since there wasn't the power of the boundary in my world. But the fun part of my story doesn't have to do with fighting."

"It doesn't?"

"Not at all. The best part was the traveling. We were on naval carriers, going from place to place."

"Naval carriers?"

"A really big boat. That's where they kept the fighters, so we could launch from anywhere. I loved traveling on the open sea, though. It was almost like flying. There were miles and miles of ocean all around. You could see all kinds of fish and what not. And the air was always cool and pleasant, and fresh, not like the air near the cities. It got all polluted when Japan started industrializing."

"Industrializing?"

"Started focusing more on machines and technology than magic. They did make some fun things and all, but machines just aren't as fun. But, I guess it had to be done. Not everyone could come up with a spell to construct a railway or house, but anyone could learn how to use a machine to do it. Huh... maybe that's why I liked the open ocean so much. There was no sign of those machines, except for the one we were on."

"So you don't like technology and stuff, like all the things that were in your house."

"I accepted things over time. After a century and a half of machines being made, I had to accept things. Some of the stuff they made was kind of fun, like the computer I had, and having a phone to call people with helped a lot. It is faster than trying to send a letter to someone. Still, though, I would give up all those conveniences to have a place where magic reigned to call home."

"Then you can stay here, in Gensokyo! I'll ask Remi-nee to let you stay here, if you want! Then we can spend as much time as we want together!"

"I do want to stay in Gensokyo. I know I could always wait for Nitori to figure out how to get the portal generators on those suits of armor to work again, but I don't want to go back. I feel like I belong here more than I ever did back there. This place has everything I had always wanted. Magic is the rule here, and there are youkai everywhere. Humans and youkai here get along in a way they never did in my world. And then there's... well, yeah, everything I wanted."

"What was the last thing? I didn't hear it. 

"Um... well... the last thing... is... uh..."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Well... someone like you, someone I like to be with."

"I like being with you, too. You're a really nice person. You saved me from that armor guy before, and you couldn't even use magic. No one other than my friends would do that for me, and I had just met you at the time. I thought you were going to run away, but you didn't."

"I couldn't do that. I could never let a cute girl you like you remain in trouble."

"You think I'm cute?" Flandre replies, while blushing.

"Well, yeah, I do."

Flandre gives Genichiro a small hug, which he returns with a smile.

"I'm glad you're here, Gen-kun."

"I'm glad you're here, Flan-chan."

The pair eventually drift off to sleep on the couch, Flandre falling asleep while gently holding on to Genichiro. A passing fairy maid places a blanket over the pair before continuing her rounds. A few others look on, thinking of how cute the pair look sleeping as they were. The pair slept peacefully through the night, dreaming of how happy they were to simply be together.

Sakuya returns to the mansion early in the morning. After resting at Eientei, she wanted to get back to the mansion as soon as possible. She notes the time upon her arrival, and resolves to make sure to have breakfast ready before everyone wakes up. She hears some of the maid staff giggling about a cute couple. Sakuya assumes they meant something they had read in the library, as some of the maids were able to read, and took to some of the romantic novels Patchouli had in her library. After Sakuya finishes preparing her meal, she prepares to wake the others. On her way through the mansion, Sakuya notices the door to the small living area is closed. She opens it to find Flandre snuggled up on top of Genichiro, the pair sound asleep. Sakuya does a double take at first, making sure of what she was seeing. At this point, she takes out one of her knives, and aims for Genichiro's head.

A loud scream is heard throughout the mansion as Sakuya starts throwing knives at Genichiro. The wolf tengu runs out of the room with a knife stuck in his tokin.

"You pervert! What were you doing to the young mistress!" Sakuya shouts.

"My hand just slipped in my sleep! Honest!" Genichiro shouts, while avoiding a few more knives. Genichiro ran up the stairs, heading for Remilia's room. He was hoping Remilia could calm Sakuya down. Genichiro avoids a few more knives before dashing into the mistress' room.

"Uh... Genichiro? Is that you... why do you have a knife sticking out of your hat?" Remilia asks, being startled by Genichiro's sudden entrance.

"Sakuya came back, she caught me sleeping with your sister," Genichiro replies.

Remilia looks stunned for a moment, processing what Genichiro had just told her. A few moments later, another loud scream is heard echoing throughout the mansion.

"You sorry excuse for a man! How dare you!" Remilia shouts, while hurling danmaku spear after danmaku spear at Genichiro.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Genichiro shouts.

Genichiro continues running, only to run into Sakuya again, nearly getting a knife lodged in his heart. The wolf tengu continues to run until he ends up in the middle of a hallway between Sakuya and Remilia.

"Girls, this is all just a misunderstanding, just let me explain!" Genichiro shouts.

Another scream travels throughout the mansion as Genichiro is assaulted by projectiles from both the head mistress and chief maid of the mansion.

"Aw, Gen-kun is having fun playing danmaku with Sakuya and Remi-nee," Flandre says, while watching the fight.

"This is not how I expected to wake up," Ran mutters, while also watching the scene unfold.

"That looks painful," Chen states.

"What did he do?" Kanna asks.

"I don't know," En replies.

"Oh, he was sleeping with me. We fell asleep together on the couch last night," Flandre says.

"And Sakuya jumped to conclusions?" Patchouli asks.

"I think his hand ended up on my thigh. It felt kinda nice, but I don't think Sakuya liked seeing that," Flandre replies.

"That explains it," Koakuma states.

"Huh, so his tokin holds a knife like my beret does," Meiling says.

"Aren't you supposed to be outside?" Patchouli asks.

"I heard screaming coming from inside, so I came in to see what was going on," Meiling replies.

"Now she does her job properly..." Patchouli mutters.

"Shouldn't we help him, or something?" Chen asks.

"No," Ran states, before walking off, with Chen following. The others follow suit.

"Sorry Gen-kun, but I promised Remi-nee I wouldn't fight anyone in the house anymore," Flandre says, while continuing to watch. The entire time, Genichiro continues screaming every time he is hit by something. After the pair of Sakuya and Remilia were done, they walk down the hall together, leaving a "well-done" Genichiro in a pile.

"Flandre! Are you okay! He didn't hurt you, did he!" Remilia asks.

"We just fell asleep on the couch. His hand ended up on my thigh, but that's it. If he did something mean or perverted, I would have made his hand go 'kyuu,'" Flandre replies.

"You mean he really didn't do anything?" Sakuya asks.

"Of course not, he's a nice guy. He wouldn't do anything like that," Flandre replies.

"Oh... uh... should I apologize to him, mistress?" Sakuya asks.

"Yes, uh, I think we both should... he's still twitching, right?" Remilia asks.

"He's a youkai, he'll be fine in an hour or two. Perhaps I should have the maids clean things up?" Sakuya asks.

"Oh, uh, yes, yes, that would be a good idea. Yes, let them take care of it. We'll apologize to him later," Remilia replies.

"That's mean," Flandre states.

"It was accident. Accidents happen," Remilia replies.

"Medic!" Genichiro shouts.

"I think you overdid it," Flandre states, while giggling a little.

"You think this is funny, don't you," Remilia asks.

"A little. I don't like seeing Gen-kun hurt, but he did make a really funny face when Sakuya hit him with that knife," Flandre replies.

"The pain!" Genichiro shouts.

"You're evil... I've taught you well," Remilia states with pride.

"Yep! Remi-nee is the best!" Flandre shouts.

"So much... pain!" Genichiro shouts.

"I'll get the staff to take care of him," Sakuya states, before disappearing. The fairy maids appear a few moments later, each carrying a combination of medical and cleaning supplies.

"Let's enjoy the breakfast Sakuya has prepared," Remilia says.

"Okay. We're going to save some for Gen-kun, right?" Flandre asks.

"Oh, sure, of course," Remilia replies.

A couple of hours later, Genichiro recovers from the assault in his room. Sakuya and Remilia knock on the door, hoping he won't be too upset.

"Come in," Genichiro states. He ducks down upon seeing Remilia and Sakuya appear.

"I didn't do it!" Genichiro shouts.

"Relax, we're here to apologize for the... misunderstanding that took place this morning," Remilia says.

"Huh? Come again?" Genichiro replies, while slowly sitting back up.

"We're sorry for assuming you were being perverted with mistress Flandre earlier," Sakuya answers.

"Oh. Well, no harm done, really. I don't really blame you, I mean, I suppose it would seem like I was doing something not that of a gentleman. I'll just try to make sure that doesn't happen again," Genichiro replies.

"It's okay, Genichiro. We just want to make sure nothing happens to Flandre, is all. After getting her back after nearly half a millennium, I'm sure you can understand why I might be a little... overprotective, but freaking out and attacking you like that was uncalled for," Remilia explains.

"Don't worry about it. I've been through much worse over time. And I did hear Flan-chan laughing, so it's okay. It did put a smile on her face. Maybe next time, we should do that in a way that doesn't involve potential dismemberment," Genichiro replies.

"I'll make a note of this," Sakuya states.

"No promises, though," Remilia says with a wink. The look on her face sends a shiver up Genichiro's spine.

"So, uh, I guess I should get my day started now," Genichiro states.

"I have breakfast waiting for you. I made sure to make you a fresh meal after earlier, so feel free to enjoy it," Sakuya replies.

"Thank you," Genichiro says as he gets up.

Genichiro enters the dining area to find a plate of freshly made eggs and breakfast cakes waiting for him, along with some tea. They are set to the seat next to the head of the table. Genichiro assumed the seat was reserved for Remilia at all times, never to be taken by anyone else, even in Remilia's absence. Genichiro enjoys the meal quietly, calling for a maid upon finishing. After the meal, a maid leads Genichiro out to the gardens, where the others are currently gathered. Both Flandre and Remilia have parasol's with them to shield them from the sun.

"Hey Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts.

"Hey, Flan-chan!" Genichiro replies.

"You heal rather quickly, don't you?" Ran asks.

"Comes with being a youkai, right?" Genichiro replies.

Ran nods while bearing a small grin.

"It sure is peaceful out here, isn't it?" Ran asks.

"I try to keep it that way," Remilia replies, "Though a certain witch often ruins that when she comes storming in."

"I try to fight her; I can't help it that she's better at danmaku. If she would just fight me with martial arts, then I would beat her every time," Meiling replies.

"Physical fighting is easier, true, but it lacks elegance. I would much rather prefer to fight with danmaku. A physical fight every now and then is good for exercise, though," Ran states.

"So you can fight like that?" Meiling asks.

"Of course; Lady Yukari has made sure that I'm capable of defending myself in multiple ways, whether it be with danmaku, martial arts, or sword play. It's especially helpful on our trips to the Outside World, where we are forbidden from using magic by Lady Yukari," Ran explains.

"What would happen if you did use danmaku while outside?" Flandre asks.

"We can't, Lady Yukari binds our abilities before taking us, along with our forms. I'm still stronger than any normal human, though. The few times I've been attacked while outside, I won without problem," Ran replies.

"People attack you on the outside?" Flandre asks.

"There are some places where the weak should not tread at all in the Outside. I don't suppose you've been attacked by those wielding guns, have you?" Genichiro asks out of curiosity.

"Oh, yes, we have. Such pointless things, really. Sure, they work on other humans, but on youkai, like us, the projectiles harmlessly bounce off. It would hurt if they hit us in the eye, or somewhere like that, but even then, those little toys are hardly need for concern," Ran answers.

"What's a gun?" Flandre asks.

"They're little machine things that shout out metal bullets. They're not danmaku, though, like Lady Ran says, so they don't hurt at all," Chen explains.

"I always found them to be rather distasteful, though I was forced into situations where I had to use them," Genichiro replies.

"I have, as well as Lady Yukari, but never to kill, only to disable. And we would disappear soon after, during such situations. They are fairly rare, though. We try to stay away from places with a high crime rate," Ran says.

"That's for the best. I guess Lady Yukari wouldn't take you guys outside if it was really dangerous," Genichiro replies.

"Dangerous? It's so much fun!" Chen shouts.

"I want to go to the outside world sometime," Flandre states.

"You would have to take that up with Lady Yukari. She never takes anyone outside, other than us. She may make an exception for someone like Genichiro, but still, that's all dependent upon her whims, which could change at any time," Ran replies.

"Aww," Flandre says.

"Don't worry, I could try to get some things from Kourindou, if you want. I know how to use most of the things there. Really, though, most of the stuff from the outside really isn't all that impressive in comparison to magic," Genichiro states.

"I agree with him, we only go for supplies we can't get here, such as clothes and fuel for the few outside machines we employ, as well are repair and maintenance on said machines. Even then, most of our machines are electronic and solar powered. I trust you know what that means, Genichiro?" Ran asks.

"I do. Makes sense, there's plenty of sun around here, and it would be a shame to pollute this land with expended fuels," Genichiro replies.

"Lady Yukari would agree with you, hence her decision," Ran says.

"What's solar powered mean?" Flandre asks.

"It means Lady Yukari has these machines that use the light from the sun to make electrical power," Genichiro replies.

"What's electrical mean?" Flandre asks.

"I'd like to know that one, myself," Remilia states.

"Like lightning, except not as powerful. Just enough to make simple machines work. That's the best way for me to put it," Ran answers.

"I see. Well, that doesn't really sound all that interesting. As unique as the devices in Genichiro's world looked, they are hardly impressive," Remilia replies.

"I see you're not impressed with it," Ran states.

"That store he took us to was convenient, I'll give it that, but really, the Outside World bores me. I don't like the idea of not being able to use my magic, and I hate having to hide my form. I take pride in what I am, I don't want to hide it," Remilia replies.

"Truthfully, magic can do so much more; it's why I always worked so hard to become a full youkai as soon as possible in each of my past lives," Genichiro says.

"I suppose it is ironic that the only technology that exists and is capable of reproducing magic is that which was built here," Ran states.

"Wait, there are people here who have built machines capable of mimicking our magic?" Remilia asks.

"A few. The human scientist Asakura Rikako, the tank builder, Rika, and many of the Kappa. Still, they have magic as a base. Those in the outside have lost sight of magic," Ran explains.

"I see. It would seem Jin figured it out, too, somehow. I suppose the rules for my world are a little different, since there is no Gensokyo there," Genichiro replies.

"Hm, I wonder... well, it's possible the Lunarian civilization may still exist in your world," Ran states.

"Lunarians?" Genichiro asks.

"Oh, I remember that. I did like the sea they had up there," Remilia states.

"You do know who they are, don't you?" Ran asks.

"Oh, yes, I do, I was just thinking if they existed in my world or not. Well, there's not way to know, now, anyway, but maybe. Why did you bring them up?" Genichiro asks.

"Maybe Jin found his way there, and made use of their technology in his. It would give him the proper basis, as well as explain why his machines are as advanced as they are," Ran replies.

"Not to be negative, but wouldn't we have a problem if they were using Lunarian technology?" Sakuya asks.

"We would, but it doesn't seem like there's are that far advanced. At best, inferior copies, but hardly as powerful as the originals. If they had such power, they would not need numbers to win. That's the kind of battle we're looking at," Ran explains.

"I suppose that's comforting in a way. If I get a chance to get back home, I might look up Lunarian society there," Genichiro says.

"We might be able to help you with that; after this is over, we'll consider helping you in that endeavor. For now, though, perhaps we should focus on something more important," Ran replies.

"Like what?" Remilia asks.

"Like a little practice. Perhaps we should hold a couple of duels to make sure everyone is well prepared for tomorrow's battle? Nothing major, just a three card duel," Ran states.

"Yay! Danmaku! So, who against who?" Flandre asks.

"How about two teams of three?" Sakuya asks, "Mistress Remilia, mistress Flandre, and Genichiro against Lady Ran, Chen, and En? One spell per person in three one on one matches, best of three fights wins?"

"This works for me. Very well. We'll duel with danmaku spell rules, no melee. Is everyone in agreement?" Ran asks.

"Works for me," Genichiro says.

"I don't mind, why not?" Remilia replies.

"Yay, I get to be with Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts.

"I get to be with Lady Ran!" Chen shouts.

"I have the two powerful shikigami of Lady Yukari on my side; I won't lose!" En shouts.

"I hope you'll put on a wonderful show for us all in the skies above the gardens. Mistress, shall I prepare some tea for after the duel?" Sakuya asks.

"Yes, and bring some knives. I want you, China, and Patchy joining in on this, too. You all could use a little practice," Remilia replies.

"It shall be done, mistress," Sakuya replies, before disappearing after using her time shift.

"Well, now that we have this set, how shall we do this?" Remilia asks.

"From what I know of you, you wish to face me in the last match, yes?" Ran asks.

"Of course! Save the best match up for last, right?" Remilia replies.

"I'll face off with Flan," En states.

"Guess that leaves me with you, little one, so who goes first?" Genichiro.

"You two do, wolf-boy. Make it a good showing!" Remilia replies, while bearing a mischievous grin.

"Yay! I get to go first!" Chen shouts.

"_Well, this should be interesting. The wolf and the cat go to fight with danmaku... needs a punchline, though. Guess I'll have to work on that part,"_ Genichiro says in his head as he takes to the skies with Chen.

"First one to have their spell broken loses. Ready? Begin!" Ran shouts.

"I won't disappoint you, Lady Ran!" Chen shouts.

"I'll show you how we do things where I come from!" Genichiro shouts.

The pair of Genichiro and Chen pull out a spell card, ready to announce their spell.

"Oni Sign: 'Blue Oni Red Oni!'" Chen shouts.

"Wolf Sign 'Hidden Wolf!'" Genichiro shouts.

Chen takes a position directly ahead of Genichiro. To her right side, a human-sized red danmaku sphere goes straight ahead in the direction of Genichiro, while a human-sized blue danmaku sphere does the same on her left. In the wake of each pair of danmaku, smaller danmaku of varying sizes appear, making the colors of the danmaku spheres they came from. After drifting off a little from their path, the smaller danmaku aim themselves at Genichiro, while Chen fires off another pair of human-sized danmaku.

Genichiro starts himself off in front of Chen, firing out a field of hand-sized white danmaku. The field takes a radial form around Genichiro, and starts to spin about him clockwise. Genichiro then pulls out his sword, and swings it, sending out a burst of blue fang danmaku, aimed straight at Chen. Genichiro then disappears, then reappears nearby, shifting the origin of the white danmaku field, and reversing it's rotation. Genichiro swings his blade to form another burst of aimed blue fang danmaku before repeating the pattern.

Chen is forced to move as soon as Genichiro fires off his first burst of fang danmaku, resulting in her bursts changing position with her, but keeping the same pattern. Genichiro notes the aimed bursts being left behind in Chen's attack, and keeps himself moving to avoid taking any hits, while making sure to get off plenty of his own. Genichiro keeps himself mindful of where he should make himself appear, knowing he would be in trouble if he made himself appear in the wrong place. Genichiro is forced to graze through a wave of Chen's danmaku after making a slight error in where he appears. Losing track of a previous aimed burst from Chen. Chen is distracted by the near hit, running into one of Genichiro's small danmaku bullets. She narrowly avoids the burst of fang danmaku that follow. Genichiro notes Chen reaction as he chooses riskier places to appear, hoping to fake Chen out be making her believe he will be hit. Genichiro appears in the middle of a blue burst, just as it's about to aim at him. As planned, Chen is distracted by the chance, allowing Genichiro to get his shot off and change position, barely managing to avoid taking a direct hit. Chen is hit by a group of fang danmaku as a result. Genichiro appears again, this time right in front of Chen. The cat shikigami fires her large danmaku straight at Genichiro, forcing him to fire off his barrage quickly. The aimed barrage nearly misses Chen, who runs right up to where Genichiro next appears. The lucky shot Genichiro gets is taken, and Chen doesn't have enough room to avoid the next aimed burst, taking another round of hits, resulting in her spell being broken.

"Looks like I win this one. Not bad, though, Chen. I actually worked up a sweat on that one. Almost had me there a couple of times," Genichiro says.

"That was fun! We'll have to do it again sometime," Chen replies.

"Genichiro wins the first round. Next up is En and Flandre," Ran says.

"Ho, ho, one for our team. I doubt a fairy could beat Flan. Looks like we might not get to fight at all," Remilia says.

"Oh we'll fight. Even if there is no meaning for the match, practice is practice, and I'm not one to just observe, unless I'm ordered to, of course," Ran states.

Remilia allows herself a grin as her sister takes to the skies with the greater fairy of fire.

"Okay, Flan, let's have some fun, okay? Don't hold back just because I'm a fairy!" En shouts.

"Sure, sure! I have a fun spell in mind!" Flandre shouts.

The pair smile at each other before pulling out their spell cards.

"Forbidden Barrage 'Counter Clock!'" Flandre shouts.

"Blaze Sign 'Fire Typhoon!'" En shouts.

Flandre fires out a radial field of red sphere danmaku. Two magic circles also appear before Flandre. The pair of magic circles come to life, projecting six laser blades, two for each axis. The pair spin on all three axes while moving towards one another, while Flandre continues to shoot out her danmaku field. After the pair of magic circles reach their destination, they deactivate, but remain in place, only to come to life again a few moments later, spinning again, but moving away from each other, then deactivating again, before repeating the cycle.

En fires out a random barrage of large fireball danmaku. Two magic circles appear by En, one on each side. Each magic circle fires out a wispy, flaming snake-like bullet. The two forms curve through the field of fireball danmaku, before bursting into a wave of small fireball danmaku. After the first pair of wispy snakes disappear, another pair is sent out, coming a little faster than the first, and repeating the same motions as the previous before bursting into small fireball danmaku. The cycle continues, each new snake moving faster than the one before it, while En continues to fire out the barrage of fireball danmaku at a steady pace.

Flandre is the first one forced to move out of the way of the incoming fireballs. Her field of danmaku moves with her, while the magic circles hold in place. The shift in Flandre's field forces En to move about, while carefully avoiding the blades from the pair of magic circles, which stay a set distance away from En, moving along with her. En narrowly misses a blade, but runs into one of the red danmaku Flandre is firing out. En shrugs it off and continues her assault, her magic circles staying with her, and sending out more fire danmaku snakes. Flandre is forces to graze one of the snakes but forgets about how they burst for a moment, getting her reminder in the form of several hits. Flandre moves to avoid the next pair, but runs into a pair of fire balls from En. Flandre's quick movement shifts her field quickly, leaving a narrow gap for En, which led right into the one of the blades coming from Flandre's circles. En continues her spell, with the snakes constantly firing off. Flandre slips up while avoiding a fireball, and is hit by one of the snakes, breaking her spell.

"I don't believe it!" Remilia shouts.

"That's one tough little fairy," Genichiro says.

"Yay En!" Kanna shouts.

Among those present, Ran is the only one not surprised by the outcome. Ran knows danmaku is about experience as much as it's about power, and could tell En was much more experienced than Flandre, who had spent the majority of her life locked away.

"You knew, somehow, didn't you?" Remilia says, while pointing a finger at Ran.

"I had an idea; I can't see the future, but I can predict the results," Ran replies.

"All the better, than. This just means there's more reason for us to fight, for the honor of house Scarlet!" Remilia shouts.

"Perhaps. Well then, shall we begin?" Ran asks.

Flandre and En drop from the sky, the pair sharing a hug after the match, while smiling together.

"That was fun! Too bad we were only using one card each," Flandre says.

"Yeah, I have quite a few I would have liked to try out. Those blades were scary, though. Almost got the run through," En replies.

"But you were really good, you didn't get hurt,' Flandre states.

"En has been fighting like this for years. She's done all kinds of things I didn't think a fairy could do," Kanna replies.

"She did a few just now, I would say. Nice work, En," Genichiro says.

En just smiles in response. Everyone then looks to the skies to see Ran and Remilia prepare for their fight.

"Okay, fox, no holding back, okay? Strongest card you got, okay?" Remilia asks.

"If you wish. I may not be as powerful when not near Yukari, but I can hold my own just as well. Ready?" Ran asks.

Remilia pulls out her card, prompting Ran to do the same.

"'Scarlet Gensokyo!'" Remilia shouts.

"Illusion God 'Descent of Izuna Gongen!'" Ran shouts.

Remilia fires out a quick burst of human-sized blue danmaku spheres in radial pattern, each following a curved arc. Each blue sphere leaves a trail of smaller, blood red danmaku behind in their wake. Remilia fires another burst of the blue danmaku, the new burst following a radial path opposite the direction of the previous burst. At the same time as the new burst appears, the danmaku left behind from the previous burst spin along the path of the burst the created them, but at a slower pace. Remilia continues firing off bursts of the blue danmaku leaving the red danmaku behind, each burst coming faster than the burst before it.

Ran fires off a radial burst of small blue danmaku. She adds a radial burst of blue butterfly danmaku, before adding in a radial burst of blue fang danmaku, each spinning along with the pattern of the first burst. Ran then adds a burst of human-sized red danmaku spheres, spinning along with the rest of her barrage, but emerging opposite of her initial burst. Ran finally completes her full barrage with large green and yellow danmaku spheres, spinning along with the rest of the barrage, but coming from Ran at different points, leaving Ran firing danmaku in four different directions are once, while spinning around her.

Ran is forced to move first, avoiding a blue danmaku sphere heading in her direction. Ran takes note of the red danmaku around her, making sure not to run into them. Ran grazes through several of the smaller red spheres, making sure not to take a direct hit, while at the same time maintaining her own barrage. As Ran moves, her danmaku shift with her, forcing Remilia to move more. Remilia is doesn't escape a burst closing in on her, missing the gap that closed before her, resulting in her being the first to take a hit. This only prompted Remilia to increase the intensity of her own bursts, nearly catching Ran off guard, who had been calculating the speed of increase in Remilia's shots. Ran takes a hit from a pair of small red danmaku, forcing her to adjust her calculations as she continues her pattern. Remilia gets too confident in herself after hitting Ran, missing the group of large, red danmaku spheres heading for her. Remilia tries to graze through them, but doesn't make it, taking a hit, and having her spell broken.

"I don't believe it!" Remilia shouts.

"It would seem I have won this round; my team is the winner of this match," Ran states.

"Yay! We won, Lady Ran!" Chen shouts.

"Meh, she probably cheated," Remilia states.

"You can't cheat at danmaku, you know," Genichiro states.

Remilia lets out a growl in response, causing Genichiro to back up from the vampire girl.

"It's okay, Remi-nee. We'll beat them the next time, okay?" Flandre replies.

"Yeah, they just got lucky, right?" Genichiro says.

"That's right! They just got lucky, is all. We'll win for sure next time!" Remilia declares.

"Anything is possible. There are flukes in danmaku, as there are every where else," Ran replies.

"You trying to say I could only win on a fluke?" Remilia asks.

"I didn't say that. More like we won a fluke, I suppose," Ran replies.

"That's right!" Remilia shouts.

"_I guess this is her childish side coming out. Perhaps mind and body really aren't so separate," _Genichiro thinks to himself.

"_I didn't know how Genichiro would handle Chen. I was certain En would defeat Flandre, though. I was also reasonably sure I could take care of Remilia, as along as I was careful not to make a mistake. Still, these assumptions are based around this type of match up. It may have been different if each match was done best of three," _Ran thinks to herself.

"A splendid match, mistress," Sakuya states, as she walks into the garden, a tea set in hand.

"Ah, perfect timing, Sakuya. Nice of you to join us, Patchy," Remilia says.

"I was looking into more powerful spells. As much as I don't like the idea, the witch's fighting style is more suited to war than mine," Patchouli replies.

"That's true, but don't forget the strategy," Genichiro states.

"In war, you need a good strategy with enough power to back it up to win. We have both taken care of, fortunately. I'm sure just about everyone in Gensokyo will join in," Ran replies.

"Yes, I know for sure Eientei, Keine, and Byakuren will help. I can't speak for any others. The only place I group I don't expect help from is the Lunar Capital," Sakuya states.

"Yukari won't be asking them for any favors soon, and I doubt the staff of Eientei would want to risk being found. Still, we have more than enough help here. Bringing in the Lunarians would be 'overkill," Ran replies.

"Bah, I don't want to see them again, anyway. Now then, Sakuya, go grab China, and prepare for a few more practice duels. There's still plenty of time left before dinner, right?" Remilia asks.

"Of course, mistress," Sakuya says, while pouring tea for Remilia and Patchouli. Sakuya disappears to get Meiling, while some of the fairy staff wait on the other guests in her stead. Sakuya quickly returns with Meiling in tow, leaving a contingent of fairies in charge of guarding the front gate. After their tea, the rest of the afternoon is spent on danmaku duels, with Ran, En, and Genichiro taking on Patchouli, Sakuya, and Meiling. Ran beats out Patchouli in danmaku, while Sakuya defeats En. Genichiro and Meiling enjoy a melee fight, ending in a double knock-out, leaving the team match undecided. After a few more duels, the sun draws a close for the day, with Remilia leading everyone inside for an extravagant dinner prepared by Sakuya. Remilia asked Sakuya to go all out, preparing Roast Leg of Lamb with mint jelly, beef stew, and corn, along with freshly baked biscuits and a homemade cheese cake with tea and coffee for dessert.

"Ah, Sakuya cooks so much better than the fairies," Genichiro says, while rubbing his stomach.

"This was a fine meal, Remilia. It's always a pleasure to be able to dine here as a guest in your mansion," Ran says.

"Only the best for my guests. Perhaps you should bring your mistress next time," Remilia states.

"Perhaps. Lady Yukari is a rather whimsical person, after all," Ran replies.

"I'm so full, but I'm happy, too," Chen says, while bearing a cat-like grin.

"Well then, perhaps now would be a good time to end the night. We all should make sure to be rested for tomorrow, right?" Remilia asks.

"Indeed. I was planning on sleeping right after I finished this spell I've been working on," Patchouli says.

"You should sleep right away. You know how you start to get into your spells, and lose track of time. Consider this an order," Remilia states.

"Very well, Remi, if you insist," Patchouli replies.

"I will leave the rest of the cleanup to the staff. I believe you were about to make the same request of me, mistress?" Sakuya asks.

"Of course, Sakuya. You need rest most of all. Goodnight, everyone," Remilia states.

Everyone bids each other goodnight as they leave the dining area for their rooms, Genichiro making sure to make it to his room this night, rather than having a repeat of that morning when he awoke. Flandre did give the wolf tengu a hug before heading for her own room. En was the only one left in the dining room with Remilia, choosing to remain behind.

"Is there something I can help you with, En?" Remilia asks.

"There is, actually. I would like to become a member of your staff," En replies.

"Oh? What could you do for me, I wonder. I have plenty enough fairies here as is, and it would take several of them to match the output of a single human," Remilia replies.

"I'm not like the others, Lady Remilia. After two hundred years, I've learned a few more things that most fairies never live to realize. I'm willing to help protect the mansion, as well as cook and clean. I'm sure you would appreciate the help, Miss Sakuya," En states.

"You do seem much more competent than the typical fairy. You did put up a good fight against the younger mistress earlier," Sakuya replies.

"Yes, you certainly are no ordinary fairy. Why are you so interested in working here, though?" Remilia asks.

"To have a home. I would be much better able to keep Kanna safe in a place like this. Keeping her safe in the forest isn't always an easy task, especially with the current incident. She's my most important friend in the world; I don't want anything to ever happen to her. It's been one of my purposes in life. I would like to have serving this mansion be another, to give me some direction, a reason for being. I'm sure someone who's been around as long as you can understand this," En explains.

"Indeed I do. It is dreadfully boring at times. Sometimes I have to set things in motion myself to keep myself entertained. There was even the time when I helped with the fake moon incident. Alright, very well, if you make it through this incident, I'll allow you and your friend to join my staff," Remilia replies.

"Thank you, Mistress Remilia," En replies.

"Ho ho, calling me mistress so soon? I like that, I like that a lot. She'll make a fine addition to the staff, don't you agree, Sakuya?" Remilia asks.

"She will. I'm sure your friend would do well at tending to the gardens, right? You can help me with maintaining the house, and she may join the garden staff. Does this sound reasonable to you?" Sakuya asks.

"I'm just happy for this opportunity, Miss Sakuya. I thank you both. I believe I should be heading to my room now; I intend to join you tomorrow. I'm sure I've demonstrated my worth in battle today?" En asks.

"Indeed you have. Goodnight, En," Remilia replies.

In the final night before the coming war, all those joining the fight enter into the realm of sleep. Some are full of worry, while others are full of confidence.

"This war... it will change the face of this land," Yukari states, while looking over Gensokyo. She wanted one last look at the place she called home, before the fighting started.

"I helped to make this place a paradise, free of the troubles of the Outside World. I suppose it's inevitable that something like this would take place. Throughout history, all lands of peace are eventually plunged into war. I only hope we will emerge as the same place we are now," Yukari says out loud, before disappearing into a gap, leading to her own bed. She knew, too, that she needed to rest herself up, as much as she didn't like the idea of sleeping away a perfectly good night.

In another part of Gensokyo, Jin was looking over his hanger, now loaded with weapons of war. He smiled upon the completion of his inspection.

"I take it this suits you?" comes the voice of Tiara.

"Oh yes, of course. This will make for a fine showing tomorrow. More than enough to show everyone that I mean business," Jin replies.

"I still don't see the point in this. You may have all these weapons, but they are no match for a master of the magical arts."

"You seem so sure of this."

"I created these vehicles, and I am, myself, a master of the magical arts. I can tell you right now that these 'toys' are worthless to you for what you wish to accomplish."

"I don't expect to win with these, nor do I plan to. At least not with these alone. What I have in the other hanger will decide the outcome of this match. That's what will win this battle."

"You think that oversized pile of metal will help you?"

"You've seen it, have you not? Can you think of a way to easily destroy it?"

"Just because I have not does not mean others will not. I will admit that is it powerful, but I'm sure someone of Yukari's level would be able to destroy it."

"Oh? I doubt that. Even her abilities to play with boundaries has it's limits, and I know what they are. Yukari could try to use her abilities, but they will fail. I made sure of that."

"If you insist. Once again, I will not stop you. This does have some potential, after all. If you do somehow manage to win tomorrow, I will not utter a single complaint about your technology again."

"I look forward to that."

Jin and Tiara part ways, with Tiara heading to rest in her shrine room after constructing Jin's army, while Jin readies himself for sleep.

"_It doesn't matter if I win or lose, that's not my goal. No, my goal for tomorrow is a little smaller, and yet so much greater. And once I succeed, nothing will stand before me. I won't even need the help of that Tiara either!"_ Jin thinks to himself as he makes his way down the hall.


	12. Fight for Paradise

_Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 12 – Fight for Paradise**

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, everything is calm. Things were going as they usually did, the fairy maids were running back and forth, making sure there wasn't a spot of dust to be found. A small squad of fairies were at the front gate, taking Meiling's place during her _scheduled_ sleeping time. Remilia, Flandre, Sakuya, Patchouli, Koakuma, Meiling, Flandre, and Genichiro, as well as the other guests, Ran, Chen, Kanna, and En were all asleep. This was soon to change, with Sakuya the first to awake. The chief maid had herself prepared within seconds, quickly doing the rounds to wake the others, while instructing the maid staff to make up a quick breakfast.

"Ah, so it's morning already, is it?" Remilia asks of Sakuya.

"It is, mistress. Breakfast will be waiting for you upon your entry to the dining area," Sakuya replies.

"On point as always, Sakuya. I will take care of myself from here."

Sakuya bows before running by the rest of the rooms. Sakuya didn't enter the other rooms, not having the same kind of relationship with the other members of the mansion as she did with Remilia. Upon waking, everyone made their way for the dining area for a simple breakfast consisting of pancakes and eggs. Sakuya has the maid staff clean up as everyone gathers all the supplies they intended to bring into battle. Ran and Chen choose to wait in the foyer, already having all they need for battle.

"Hard to believe it's come to this," Genichiro mutters to himself, "To think I would find myself in another war. Such that is life, I suppose.

Genichiro moves about through his things, gathering together all of the spell cards he made upon regaining his youkai form. He knew he would need every last card he had, and brought a few blanks for anything he may come up with on the fly. Flandre enters his room as he gathers up the last of his cards.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts, surprising Genichiro, and causing him to drop a few of his cards.

"Ah, you surprised me there," Genichiro replies, being easily startled from having his mind on the cards previously in his hand. Flandre notices one of the cards near her feet, and picks it up. Flandre notices a couple of things are odd with the card. The most obvious is the card being black, the second being the amount of power held within it. Genichiro pales at seeing the card in Flandre's hand, quickly taking it away.

"Hey, what was that for?" Flandre asks.

"Well... uh..." Genichiro stutters.

"That one looked like a really powerful spell. I want to see it."

"It's best if you don't. There are some things that are meant to be hidden away from others."

"What do you mean? It's just a spell card. I have many forbidden spells that only I can use, you know."

"I do know, but this one is different... much different. Let's just say that, it's something to be used only if it has to be. It's not for showing off, or performances, and it carries a lot of risk... I only have it just in case, I don't intend to use it."

"You mean you have to sacrifice your well being to use it?"

"How much did you read?"

"Just the title. Forbidden Dark Art 'Sacrifice of Being.' Why?"

"I see... yes, it is my well being, my health. I would get really sick if I used this card, so I must not, unless I really have to."

"Like if someone really weak tried to use one of mine?"

"Exactly, and you would get really sick if you used this card, too."

"Okay, I understand. I won't try to use it. Still, I've never seen a black card before."

"I'm sure there are some others with them. They're risky, though, that's why they are black."

"Oh. I don't want a spell that would hurt me to use. I like the ones I have, anyway."

"That's true, you do have some fun spells. Well, I have everything I need. You have everything you need, right?"

"All my spells and my Lävatein, that's all I need."

"I have my sword and cards. I guess it's time to get going. Got some bad people to teach a lesson to."

Flandre smiles as the pair leaves. Genichiro still appears a little uneasy from Flandre seeing his black spell card, but does his best to try to dismiss it.

"_I really hope I don't have to use it, but for some reason... I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I hope it's just paranoia,"_ Genichiro things to himself as he and Flandre make their way down the stairs.

Within a few minutes, everyone is gathered in the foyer, with Patchouli and Koakuma being the last to join the group.

"Have a hard time picking spells, Patchy?" Remilia asks.

"I was organizing them a little. I decided to make some last minute adjustments when I woke up," Patchouli replies.

"I see. Well then, we're all set, right?" Remilia asks.

Everyone nods in reply.

"Alright then, off to Youkai Mountain. Let's get this over with before tea time, okay?" Remilia asks.

"Before tea time?" Ran asks.

"It was a joke, right?" Sakuya asks.

"Maybe," Remilia replies.

"_If it were that simple, we wouldn't even need your help,"_ Ran thinks to herself.

"Okay Kanna, behave yourself, alright? Don't get into mischief, and try to help out the other fairies," En states.

"What? I'm coming, too!" Kanna shouts.

"Kanna, it's much too dangerous. Don't worry, though, I'll be fine. I wouldn't lie to you, right? I promise you I'll be back here as soon as I can, so don't worry. Just try to relax, maybe play around in the garden with the maids that aren't working," En replies.

"Okay, En," Kanna says, still sounding a little disappointed.

"I've been through many a battle in my time. Believe me when I say you're not missing out on much. Besides, someone has to hold down the fort while we're gone, right?" Genichiro asks.

"That's right. That's a big responsibility for you. We're counting on you to keep an eye on things while we're gone. You can do that, right?" Sakuya asks.

"Yes, you can take care of my mansion for me, okay?" Remilia asks.

"Okay! I'll do my best!" Kanna shouts.

"That's a good girl. See you later, Kanna," En replies.

"Okay, bye everyone!" Kanna shouts, as the group makes their way out through the front door.

"Decided she would be better there, huh?" Remilia asks.

"Kanna isn't a fighter. She never has been, and she's much too cheerful for this kind of thing. It's better for her to stay behind," En replies.

"A wise decision. It's best to leave the ones you care for the most behind in these situations," Ran states.

"You're not going to make me stay behind, are you Lady Ran?" Chen asks.

"No, Chen, your abilities would be helpful here. You are a lot stronger than a fairy, after all. I know I won't have to worry about your safety out here," Ran replies.

"Ah, okay!" Chen shouts.

"Then let us make haste; I don't want to be the last one to show up," Remilia states, taking the lead and increasing her speed.

"Alright, a race!" Flandre shouts, catching up to her sister.

"Ho ho, a race against a Tengu? It's on!" Genichiro shouts, quickly catching up to Remilia and Flandre.

"Slow it down, you guys, we're not all that fast!" Meiling shouts.

"Just let them have their fun. I'm in no rush," Patchouli states.

"Yes, we should conserve our strength. They're more suited for speed than we are, after all," Sakuya replies.

"Perhaps a little too suited," Ran states.

"I want to race!" Chen shouts.

"No you don't," Ran replies.

"Aw," Chen says.

The group out of the Scarlet Devil Mansion continue on their way, soon meeting up with a small group coming from the Forest of Magic.

"Black-white nee!" Flandre shouts.

"Hm?" the person Flandre addresses replies.

"Is that the vampire girl you were telling me about before, Marisa?" one of those with Marisa asks.

"Oh, yeah, Alice. She's the younger one. Don't worry, though, she's not as crazy as she used to be," Marisa replies.

"Isn't she quite energetic," comes the voice of the man in the group.

"How did Yukari convince you to come along again, Kourin?" Marisa asks.

"She promised me a knowledgeable assistant in the form of that Tengu over there," Rinnosuke, Kourin to Marisa, replies.

"Hey, I remember that maid from before. I guess there's a lot of people in this, huh?" comes the voice of the final member of Marisa's group. She has blond hair and silver eyes. She's wearing a dark purple shirt with a red ribbon running through it and a red skirt with a dark purple ribbon running through it, along with red shoes with white socks, a red ribbon in her hair, and large, white bow on her back. She has a small doll flying with her in a matching outfit.

"Is that Medicine Melancholy over there with the witch?" Sakuya asks.

"Must have taken a lot of convincing to get her to come along," Genichiro states.

"You know her?" Sakuya asks.

"I have a familiarity with just about everyone in Gensokyo, even though I haven't met most," Genichiro replies.

"That's right, I keep forgetting your unique circumstances," Sakuya states.

"Huh, would you look at that, a vampire out in the sun," Marisa says.

"I have my parasol. That's all I need. It's not like I'll burst into flames, you know," Remilia replies.

"I can fix that for you, if you want," Marisa states.

"Must you always do that, Marisa?" Alice asks.

"Do what, ze?" Marisa asks.

"Try to irritate people you have no business picking a fight with," Alice replies.

"Still don't know what you're talking about," Marisa states.

"Perhaps I'll get to see the war right here," Rinnosuke states.

"Meh, one less human," Medicine replies.

"Hey, hey, who are you? I've never met you before. I think Sakuya mentioned you once," Flandre states, having made her way past Marisa after she started bickering with Remilia.

"Oh, Medicine Melancholy. You're not a human, right?" Medicine asks.

"Nope! I drink the blood of humans, but I'm not human. You look like a fun person, though! I heard you played with our maid once. She said you were really good with poison," Flandre asks.

"Yep! I can I make anything out of poison!" Medicine shouts.

"Perhaps you should wait to show off until later?" Rinnosuke asks.

"Hm? Oh yeah, we're supposed to save our spells for the big battle," Flandre states.

The two groups become one after Alice and Remilia finish their argument, with the humans of the group keeping their distance from Medicine, due to her poison.

"Medicine, if I may ask, why are you here?" Sakuya asks.

"Me? Well, Alice told me there were some bad humans attacking Gensokyo. She told me they would hurt Su-san. I already don't like humans too much, and I won't let a single one of them touch Su-san," Medicine replies.

"I see. Alice?" Sakuya asks.

"We could use all the help we can get, right? That's what this one told me. I suppose after seeing all of you here, that means she wasn't lying to me," Alice replies.

"I told you I wasn't, ze," Marisa states.

"You do lie a lot, you know," comes another voice.

"She's always been like that. It's cute when she tries to lie to me," comes a second voice.

"Oh, Lady Mima and Reimu! You're here, too, huh?" Marisa asks.

"Yeah, yeah, it's an incident, right? As much as I would like to sit down and sip some tea, I need to put an end to this," Reimu replies.

"Good to see you have your priorities straight," Ran states.

"What was that?" Reimu asks.

"Never mind, oh, and perhaps you should watch who you fly near," Ran replies.

"Huh? Eek!" Reimu shouts, noticing she was getting a little too close to Medicine.

"What?" Medicine replies.

"Humans are a little sensitive to poisons and such. Can you really blame them, though?" Remilia states.

"Ah, that's right!" Medicine shouts.

"The poison around you is rather strong. It's almost overwhelming," Genichiro states.

"You... your outfit is kind of like that Tengu's," Medicine says.

"I am a White-Wolf Tengu, if that helps. Name's Ookami Genichiro, by the way. That's some strong stuff you have floating around you," Genichiro replies.

"Yep! Su-san is really strong. I made sure to gather plenty of poison. I want to show those bad humans the power of dolls," Medicine states with pride.

"You'll certainly teach them a thing or two about poison," Reimu says.

The group continues onward towards Youkai Mountain. The group has to fight off a few fairies in their path, but don't run into anyone else heading into the fight. Upon arriving, they see a massive group gathered along the base of the mountain, including all of the Tengu and Kappa Guards, being led by Tenma herself, and all of the rabbits of Eientei, lead by Eirin and Kaguya. Mokou is in the group, though she purposefully keeps her distance from Kaguya. Byakuren and her group are gathered under her leadership, and several other youkai, as well as Yuyuko and Youmu, all under the leadership of Yukari. Ran and Chen lead the group straight to Yukari's location in the middle of the group.

"Ah, Ran, Chen, I see you found some people for us," Yukari states.

"I followed your orders to the best of my ability, Lady Yukari," Ran replies.

"Quite a few people here, huh?" Mima asks.

"Yes, quite a few. I don't suppose you know what happened to the leader of Makai?" Yukari asks.

"Oh? She's not here? That's a shame," Mima replies.

"Something tells me we won't have to worry about them," Genichiro states.

"Know something we don't?" Yukari asks.

"Hm, nothing you don't know, I'm sure," Genichiro replies.

"Yukari, is that the last of them?" Tenma asks.

"It would seem so," Yukari replies.

"Very well, shall we go with your plan of three attack divisions, then?" Tenma asks.

"Yes, that would be the best approach," Yukari replies.

"Three attack divisions?" Reimu asks.

"Yes, a three part pattern. Lady Tenma and her group will take up the left flank. Eirin, Tewi, and the rabbits of Eientei will take the right flank. The rest are with me, going straight down the center," Yukari explains.

"Sounds simple enough. I take it you're leading our division?" Mima asks.

"Correct," Yukari replies.

"Why does she get to lead, ze?" Marisa asks.

"You know someone more qualified, dear?" Yukari asks.

"Well... no, not really," Marisa replies.

"Exactly. Now then, I have a hunch as to where they're coming from. I need someone to check that for me. It will help me decide how to proceed," Yukari states.

"What's this hunch of yours based on?" Reimu asks.

"Oh, don't worry about that for now, dear," Yukari states.

"Yes, that is not the main concern right now, though that certainly is an interesting speculation. It would explain a great many things," Satori replies.

"My my, you shouldn't go digging around in people's heads like that, you know. Well, anyway, as you can see, the one person I can't hide my thoughts from agrees. Now then, I'll need Genichiro, Rinnosuke, and those three adorable fairies that have been hiding out near Reimu's shrine.

"Huh? What do you need us for?" Sunny asks.

"To conceal us, right?" Genichiro asks.

"Exactly. Just go around to the other side of the mountain and see what's there. If there is nothing, then there is nothing. If they are there, get back here at once and tell me. They might have equipment to see through your abilities, so be careful, now. Don't want to give us away, right?" Yukari asks.

"Simple and efficient. That's why you're in charge, right?" Genichiro asks.

"Correct," Yukari replies.

"Why do you need me for this?" Rinnosuke asks.

"To identify our opponents. I'm almost certain they have some nasty Outside World vehicles. You two are the most able to identify them, outside of myself and Ran, of course," Yukari answers.

"I see. Very well. So, about these three?" Rinnosuke asks.

"The red one control light, the white one controls sound, and the blue one can detect moving objects, the perfect stealth team, with the right mind behind them," Yukari explains.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sunny asks.

"Take it as a compliment, dear," Yukari replies with a grin.

"You three can hide us along with yourselves, right?" Genichiro asks.

"Yeah, that's easy," Sunny replies.

"Why do I not like this idea?" Luna asks.

"Relax, we won't get caught on this one," Star replies.

"Quite right. This isn't a prank, after all. Let's go!" Genichiro shouts.

"Good luck, Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts.

The Sunny snickers a little at the nickname, earning a glare from Genichiro as the group of five move out. Sunny and Luna use their abilities to hide the group immediately, giving them the extra advantage of not having to deal with the few stray fairies in their path. The group makes their way to the north face of the mountain, waiting to see if anyone will be greeting them on the other side.

"You know, I'd be just as happy if there was no one there at all," Rinnosuke states.

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Genichiro asks.

"I wouldn't complain. I'm not really a fighter," Star replies.

"Then why did you come out here?" Genichiro asks.

"To keep these two in check," Star states.

"Eh?" Sunny asks.

"Someone has to," Star replies.

"What? I can take care of myself, you know!" Sunny shouts.

"I know, but we could all use a little help, right? Remember, we're trying to prove a point for all the fairies of Gensokyo, right?" Star asks.

"Yeah, that's right! Fairies can be just as strong as anyone else!" Sunny shouts.

"Well, nothing is impossible," Genichiro states.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sunny asks.

"Like Lady Yukari said earlier, take it as a compliment," Genichiro replies.

"Looks like we're almost to the other side of the mountain," Rinnosuke states.

"Alright, let's see what' waiting for us," Genichiro states.

The group of five make it around the final stretch of the mountain. All of them stop in their tracks at the sight before them. Jin and his men are there in mass, with a force of around two thousand.

"Tanks on the ground, jets in the sky, and several armored men on their own. Do they have anything else I haven't identified?" Genichiro asks.

"That's it," Rinnosuke replies.

"That's it? That's it! That's crazy! Look at all the things out there! How are we supposed to fight against those!" Sunny shouts.

"I don't like this at all!" Luna shouts.

"That is a lot, isn't it?" Star asks.

"You're rather calm, aren't you?" Genichiro asks.

"Oh, no need to panic. It won't help, really. None of them can see us right now, anyway. I don't sense any of them trying to make their way for here," Star replies.

"True. Looks like their moving to go up the mountain. I guess they made the Tengu Village their first target. We better get back to Yukari and the others," Genichiro states.

"Yes, let's get out of here," Sunny says.

Luna nods, still shocked from the number of enemies they have to face.

The group make their return around the mountain, with Star checking to make sure they aren't being followed by anyone. Sunny and Luna end their abilities once Yukari is in sight.

"Still no word from Makai, huh?" Genichiro asks.

"No, but you knew that already, I'm sure. So, are they there? From the look on their faces, I would think so, but please, allow me your version," Yukari asks.

"They are. About two thousand units, consisting of land and sky vehicles, as well as other armored men supporting them. They are being led by a man in red, most likely Jin," Genichiro replies.

"I see. Well, I suppose it's time, then. Alright, everyone, may I have you attention!" Yukari shouts.

Everyone turns to face Yukari, waiting to hear what she has to say.

"It would seem our friends are waiting for us on the other side of the mountain. We could go around to get them, but I have a much better idea in mind. I will form gaps for each division. As soon as you cross, start attacking. We should be able to disorient them with a surprise attack. Do your best, everyone. This is for Gensokyo, okay? Kaguya and Eirin, the medical group will follow behind our group, okay?" Yukari states.

"Understood," Eirin replies.

"Very good. Now, begin!" Yukari shouts.

Yukari opens three large gaps before her. Everyone present charges on through the strange realms full of all seeing eyes. Everyone emerges on the other side of the mountain, right in the middle of the group of armored men. A mass barrage of danmaku emerges along with everyone, bringing forth a rainbow rain of destructive beauty. The armored men are caught completely off guard, losing multiple units in the initial volley. The group commanders scramble to reform their divisions, readying their counterattack.

"Impossible! How did they know we were here!" shouts one of the armored men.

"I don't know!" shouts another.

Around them, a fighter jet is hit by a couple of human-sized danmaku spheres from the Tengu Guard, knocking it out of the sky, and sending it crashing into the ground.

"Fire at will! Fire at will!" shouts another armored man, right before a pair of rabbits blast him out of the sky.

The armored men start to open fire upon the group of youkai and humans attacking them. The jets fire out lasers and blue danmaku spheres. The tanks rapidly fire out small danmaku spheres, with the main barrels sending out human-sized danmaku orbs that burst into explosions three times the size of a person. Several rabbits and tengu are caught by surprise from the shots from the tanks, being knocked down from the sky and out of the fight. Others take note, returning fire, while the rabbits of the medical squad rush to gather the fallen, bringing them to Reisen and Kaguya, who are using Eirin's magic to heal the injured.

Eirin herself and a few of the rabbits with her fire at one of the tanks. Eirin fires several large danmaku arrows into the vehicle, while the rabbits pummel it with danmaku spheres of multiple colors. Eirin fires an arrow straight down the barrel of the tank, resulting in it's destruction.

Momiji leads a small group of tengu against another tank.

"Need a hand?" Youmu asks, as she knocks an armored man out of the air.

"Sure, why not? We're hitting that land vehicle right there!" Momiji shouts.

Youmu nods, readying her Roukanken. The group hits the tank with a barrage of danmaku spheres, getting the attention of those inside, who begin firing back at the group with the rapid fire guns. The tank charges a large burst out its main barrel, aiming into the middle of the group, forcing everyone to scatter. The other guns continue firing small danmaku spheres, making sure to keep everyone away from the tank. They appear to succeed, until Youmu suddenly appears and cuts through the main barrel of the tank, the Youmu out in the crowd forming into Youmu's ghost half.

"We've lost the main gun!" shouts a man inside the tank.

"Where did that girl come from!" shouts another.

Momiji's group takes advantage of the opening, unleashing a barrage against the tank, resulting in it finally exploding.

"Nice move!" Momiji shouts.

"Thanks!" Youmu returns, before the group heads towards another tank.

In the sky, Flandre is using her ability to take care of some of the jets.

"Kyuu!" shouts Flandre, causing another of the fighters to explode. All the jets near Flandre break off, trying to keep moving relative to Flandre. Any jet making a straight line for the vampire girl meets the same explosive fate as the others before it. One of the jets tries to fire a homing burst of danmaku spheres at Flandre, only to be hit and taken out by one of Remilia's danmaku spheres.

"Too easy!" Remilia shouts, while dodging a charged burst from one of the armored men. Sakuya appears, taking the man down, while dodging attacks from another pair who managed to get behind her. Genichiro's sword goes flying overhead, taking out both in one arc before returning to Genichiro.

"Watch your back, guys," Genichiro says, before Remilia tosses a danmaku sphere behind Genichiro, taking out another one of the armored men.

"Good advice. Maybe you should follow it?" Remilia asks.

"Genichiro smiles as he grazes through the bursts coming from one of the jets, looking to take it out, or least distract the pilot long enough to get trapped in Flandre's ability.

Byakuren's group is taking care of another part of the sky, with Byakuren downing several jets in her path. Shou and Nazrin split up to either side of Byakuren, taking out a few of the armored men posing to strike back at their leader.

"The skies sure are busy, aren't they?" Ichirin asks.

"So it would seem," Shou replies, before sending a jet crashing into the ground. A tank gets near the group, readying to fire at them. Shou and Ichirin move out the way, while Nazrin takes to the ground, unnoticed. She fires a couple of danmaku bursts into the treads on the right side of the tank, damaging it, and keeping it from moving. The tank opens fire with its rapid fire guns, trying to corner Nazrin between it and a group of armored men. The mouse youkai appears trapped, before one of the armored men takes out the others in the group. The armored man doing the attacking turns into Nue briefly, before turning into a jet elsewhere. Nazrin takes to the skies with her, firing a couple more bursts at the tank. The men in the tank try to alert the others of Nue, but are cut off from a blast from Utsuho, destroying the tank.

"Nice shot!" Nazrin shouts.

"I try, I try!" Utsuho shouts.

"Okuu, there's another pair rolling up!" Rin shouts.

"I see 'em, Orin. I'll fry 'em up nice and good!" Utsuho shouts as she fires out a pair of her stars. The gigantic, slow moving danmaku are useless against the jets and armored men, but are perfect for the much slower moving tanks. The pair of vehicles are disabled by the shots, leaving Byakuren's group an opening to take them out.

"Rest in peace," Byakuren states, as she unleashes a barrage against one of the tanks, taking it out.

Ichirin appears on the ground with the other tank, with Unzan attacking from the other side. The rapid fire guns try to target the Nyuudou user, failing to do anything but force her to graze between shots while striking at the tank. The shots go through Unzan on his side. The tank yields to the attacks coming from both sides, destroying it.

"Nice teamwork!" Rin shouts, as she and her undead fairies attack a group of armored men, trying to keep them away from Utsuho, so she can concentrate on taking care of the tanks.

"Isn't the over world nice, nee-san?" Koishi asks of Satori, while taking care of a couple of jets.

"This is not the kind of greeting I was hoping for upon returning to the surface," Satori replies, while taking out a pair of armored men.

"Not everyone is like this, you know."

"I'm well aware."

"So what are they thinking?"

"How they would like nothing more than to kill us. Some of the more perverted amongst them wish to ravish us in other ways, like that one!" Satori shouts, before taking an armored man out of the sky.

"Those are the worst kind," Satori states, anger evident in her voice.

"My my, you shouldn't enter the minds of the filthy," Koishi states, before knocking a jet out of the sky.

"I was hoping to learn something of their tactics, but it seems like they were each told only of their part. Looks like they anticipated someone like me," Satori replies, while damaging one of the tanks below. Satori is only using herself as a distraction for Yuugi, who uses her strength to smash through and into the tank. The oni fires a few danmaku blasts into the tank, taking it out.

"Ah ha, this is way too much fun!" Yuugi shouts.

Near to Yuugi, Suika is doing the same thing, punching her way into the land vehicles, and tearing them apart from the inside, all while drinking from her gourd. After smashing through a couple of the tanks, Suika decides to increase her size, making the tanks and jets look like nothing more than toys to her, and she treats them as such, smashing everything around her together, apparently going on a rampage. Yuugi cheers the giant oni on, while blasting a pair of armored men out of the sky, while Suika starts going on her rampage, prompting anyone else near her, friend and foe alike, to give the "Little Pandemonium" some breathing room.

"Oh ho, for something so terrible, this is a little too fun!" Yuka shouts, while throwing a pair of armored men with cable-like vines a foot and a half thick.

"You said it! As much as I hated death and destruction, this is just way too much fun!" Rumia shouts, while cleaving a jet in half with her sword.

"You two scare me, but I'm still having fun!" Cirno shouts, while surprising an armored man not expecting Cirno to pack as much of a punch as she does.

"You have an odd definition for fun!" Dai shouts, while dodging through a burst of blue, human-sized sphere danmaku from another group of armored men. Dai fires out a random barrage, putting one of her opponents out of commission. The rest of the group charges toward Dai and Cirno, hoping to take them out while the stronger of the pair is occupied with trying to take out a tank. The group get ready to attack, but are hit with a barrage of fireballs.

"Hey, Ice-fairy! Watch your back! I can't keep watching it for you!" En shouts, as she lays down cover fire for Dai and Cirno.

"Eh? There's someone behind me?" Cirno asks, while firing a laser into the treads of the tank, disabling it's ability to move.

"I'm trying to cover her!" Dai shouts.

"Don't be so scared, even if you do get hit, you'll come back, right? Don't panic, and just go for it! We don't have anything to lose but a few hours, right?" En shouts, while finishing the group of armored men off.

"I suppose..." Dai mutters.

En missed one of the more nimble armored men, leaving herself and Dai open to a quick burst from the man. En is hit in the shoulder, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Ack!" En shouts in pain, holding her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey! That's not nice!" Dai shouts, firing out a mass barrage of ice danmaku in the direction of the man who hit En. The armored man and a pair of jets in the airspace behind him are taken out by Dai's attack.

"Now that's more like it!" En shouts, while getting herself back up.

"You're alright?" Dai asks.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just a little scratch. Had to give you a little motivation. Now fight like that, and you'll be just fine. Don't think that because you're a fairy means you can't be strong!" En shouts before heading off to another part of the battlefield.

"Whoa, that was awesome, Dai!" Cirno shouts, as she fires more lasers at the tank, finally destroying it.

"I guess it was," Dai replies, strengthening her resolve.

"Now, if those three did that, we'd be okay," Cirno says, while looking behind her. There doesn't appear to be anything there, until one notices the grass is flattened down in a spot.

"This isn't my thing!" Sunny shouts.

"Neither is it mine!" Luna shouts.

"I just wanted a quick drink, didn't want someone blasting my sake out of my hand," Star replies, before stepping out of the protection of Luna and Sunny's abilities.

"Star, are you crazy!" Sunny shouts.

Star takes out a pair of armored men who figured out where her compatriots were, before joining Cirno and Dai in attacking another tank.

"When did she get so strong?" Luna asks.

"I don't know, but if she can do it, I can, too!" Sunny shouts, ending her technique, and joining up with the other three fairies.

"Hey! Don't leave me here alone! My ability doesn't do a thing without yours!" Luna shouts.

In another section of the field, Mystia is being cornered by a group of armored men, while being pinned down by the lasers coming from a pair of jets.

"Ah! Stop! Stop!" Mystia shouts, while grazing through all the shots. The night sparrow takes a hit in the gut, knocking her out of the sky. The armored men try to finish her off, but get hit by a wave of danmaku resembling insects.

"Careful, Mystia. Don't get yourself overwhelmed like that," Wriggle says.

"Easy for you to say! Where were you!" Mystia shouts.

"Got stuck with another group, until a fire fairy helped me out."

"And I'm not supposed to get myself in trouble?"

"I didn't say I was good at following my own advice."

Mystia and Wriggle take out the jets, giving them an opening to avoid the barrage coming from the armored men in their path. The pair split off and flank the group, taking them down one by one in their combined approach.

"Not so tough now, are you!" Wriggle shouts, as she takes out a pair of armored men. The group are too closely packed together to allow them sufficient room to dodge through a counterattack, resulting in most of the group being taken down quickly.

"Time for me to fry you up!" Mystia shouts, while taking out the last part of the group.

"Alright! Let's hit one of those big ground vehicles next!" Wriggle shouts, leading Mystia to attack one of the tanks near the pair.

Further down the field, Mokou is tearing through a group of armored men. They had surrounded her in mass, knowing she is one of the more powerful beings in Gensokyo. The one leading the group is Jin himself. He is the only one managing to avoid all of Mokou's strikes.

"You must be the leader. You know, that red really makes you stand out," Mokou says, while throwing another barrage of fireball danmaku in Jin's direction. Jin avoids the shots, one of his men taking the hit in his place.

"Oh, so you think my making myself stand out is foolish?" Jin asks, while firing off a barrage at Mokou.

"Yeah, only an idiot would bring attention to themselves like that. You're just as simple minded as that blasted moon princess!" Mokou shouts, sending out a denser barrage than she had a minute ago.

"Oh, increasing the number, huh? If that's how you want to play," Jin replies, while pressing a button on his wrist. Mokou anticipates Jin's actions, and jumps into the air, avoiding the mines Jin set up, while returning fire.

"How did you figure that out!" Jin shouts, while grazing through the blasts, taking a minor hit to his left shoulder.

"The ground wasn't packed in the same in those spots, and I heard you like to leave traps in the dirt like that. Too bad I figured it out, huh?" Mokou answers, while sending out a snake of fire, curving as it travels in Jin's direction.

"Not bad, girl, not bad," Jin replies, "but not great either, I got better targets to take care of. Get her!"

Another group of armored men appear, laying down a barrage as Jin makes his way away from Mokou.

Mokou takes a couple of hits to her body, but maintains her ground, firing at the men before her, and opening up a gap in their lines.

"Get back here!" Mokou shouts, taking out another armored man while rushing through their lines.

A group of tanks make their way near the medical group. The rabbits guarding them try to stave off the vehicles, knowing they don't have enough power on their own. Reisen attempts to take out at least one of the vehicles, knowing she won't be able to take out both in time. As Reisen attacks, a barrage of danmaku spears rain down in the direction of the other two tanks, quickly taking them out.

"Looks like you aliens could use a little help," Remilia states, while finishing off the tank Reisen is dealing with.

"You would think they would respect a medical camp.

"Not everything happens as it does in books," comes a voice from behind the group, before the person shoots down a pair of jets approaching the medical group.

"Patchouli-san?" Reisen asks.

"I've read a few books from the Outside World on the topic of war. These people don't seem to care about attacking a medical camp. Not surprising, seeing as they want to eliminate everyone," Patchouli replies.

"Oh, Patchy, there you are. I thought you ran off," Remilia replies.

"I'm many things, but a coward is not one of them," Patchouli states, while going after a squad of armored men.

"My, she's quite worked up about this," Remilia states, while throwing a danmaku spear at a nearby jet.

Reisen fires off a quick burst in the direction of Remilia, nearly prompting Remilia to attack the rabbit in return, until she heard the explosions behind her, signaling the defeat of a pair of armored men that managed to sneak up on her.

"Careful, Remilia-san. They guys like to sneak up on everyone like that. Don't get too carried away with taking out the larger targets.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Remilia replies in a sarcastic tone, before flying off to take care of a group of fighter jets.

"There's another injured rabbit being brought over here," Kaguya states, while clearing a path for the group of rabbits carrying the injured one.

"I see. I got them covered," Reisen replies, while damaging the main barrel of a tank that had been threatening to hit the medical camp.

Ran and Chen were rolling through the skies, knocking out the jets and armored men, while delivering a steady barrage of danmaku at the ground to take out the tanks in the area, all under the supervision of Yukari, who was both keeping an eye on the battlefield as a whole, as well as focusing on fighting those within her range of attack.

"My my, so many of these people, and yet they are taken down so easily," Yukari states, while taking out a tank by opening a gap to it's power source and firing danmaku into it.

"That takes care of this part of the sky, Lady Yukari," Ran says, as she comes out of her spin attack. Chen joining her quickly.

"That was the last tank in my range. Let's clear up another piece of this mess, shall we?" Yukari asks, while taking out an armored man that had attempted to approach Ran from behind. At the same time, Ran had taken out an armored man behind Yukari.

"Wow, Lady Ran, Lady Yukari!" Chen shouts.

"Once your with me that long, little one, you'll be able to do the same, now, let's go clear up another part of the sky, okay?" Ran replies.

Chen nods with a grin, prompting Yukari to lead the way.

In an area in the middle of the battlefield, Flandre and Genichiro were back to back, their weapons in hand, ready to attack a group of armored men who are trying to ambush them.

"We surrender!" Genichiro shouts.

"Not!" Flandre shouts, while making one of the men stupid enough to believe it explode, the others starting their attack.

"Let's show them something fun!" Genichiro shouts, while pulling out a spell card.

"Okay!" Flandre shouts.

"Twin Sign: 'Fire Light Spin!'" Genichiro shouts.

Flandre and Genichiro hold their weapons out in front of them. From Genichiro's sword comes a beam of light, while Flandre's Lävatein cast forth a beam of fire. The pair began to spin, slowly at first, than faster and faster as the spell continued. After hitting a set speed, the beams began to produce light and fire danmaku, matching the beam that had made it, the danmaku firing off in a radial pattern along the path of the spin. The danmaku increased in speed and density throughout the attack.

The armored men nearby were quickly taken down, while the others backed off. A tank in the range of the beams was quickly torn apart and destroyed, while the danmaku heavily damaged another nearby tank. Several armored men fell at the end of the spell, not being able to keep up with such a large spread of danmaku.

"Now that's how you clear the path!" Genichiro shouts.

"That was fun! I hope you have some more fun ones like that!" Flandre shouts.

"I might have thought up one or two while I was out there," Genichiro replies, as the pair head in to the skies, ready to take out a pair of jets in their area.

As the battle continues, Jin notes the battle turning to favor those of Gensokyo, with his units being quickly taken down. He's still trying to shake off Mokou, who isn't being stopped by anything in her path, fully set on taking down the one who started everything.

"My my, she's quite persistent. Let's see if I can't change things a little," Jin states, while entering a set of commands into his armor.

After the instructions reach their target, a group of a thousand armored men, jets, and tanks emerge onto the battlefield, the group coming from around the other side of the mountain. The new group fires a mass barrage of human-sized danmaku spheres, lasers, and exploding danmaku into the group of youkai and humans fighting against them.

"Looks like they had some friends hiding around the corner, ze!" Marisa shouts, after having barely avoided being skewered by a laser.

"Marisa! Are you alright!" Reimu shouts, while moving out of the path of an exploding shell.

"It's okay, it's just a scratch," Marisa replies, before wincing a little. The laser had hit her right shoulder, burning the fabric of her dress. A little blood was emerging, though most of the wound was cauterized from the shot.

"Love Sign 'Master Spark!'" Marisa shouts, fighting lasers with her own, managing to take out a few armored men and jets in the process. The backlash from the blast wouldn't normally bother Marisa, but her injured shoulder causes her to wince.

"Perhaps you should visit the medical camp, dear," Mima asks, while avoiding a barrage of danmaku spheres.

"It's just a scratch, ze!" Marisa shouts. An explosion behind her confirms someone had tried to sneak up on her, but was stopped.

"Marisa, get to the medical camp!" Alice shouts.

"But..." Marisa stutters.

A jet crashes down nearby, with Medicine hopping off of it.

"Doll lady is right, you should go!" Medicine shouts.

"Alright, alright," Marisa replies.

"I'll cover you," Mima replies, escorting Marisa through the herds.

"Gah! What a bother! Tenma shouts, while avoiding the barrage from the new units. Several of the tengu and kappa with her were not as fortunate. With their group being nearest to where the new enemies arrived, they were being hit the hardest.

"We've lost a quarter of our forces," Momiji shouts, while avoiding an exploding danmaku sphere. Youmu fires off a round of danmaku to disable the tank, but another shows up in its place to continue the assault.

"I don't know what that gap youkai has in mind, but I think now would be a good time for some backup!" Tenma shouts, while trying to punch through the lines of armored men after her group.

"Yukari-sama!" Ran shouts at the appearance of the new group.

"I see them, Ran. So, they did think of this, huh? I was hoping they would try to make it a little interesting for me. Well, now is as good a time as any," Yukari replies, while snapping her fingers.

After Yukari's gesture, a large gap opens up behind the armored men's reinforcements. Out of the gap comes a mass barrage of danmaku. Of the many kinds send spiraling out, the most unique were swords, larger than the knives Sakuya throws. Out of the gap comes Shinki and Yumeko leading a group of youkai from Makai.

"About time, I was getting bored waiting!" Shinki shouts, "Blasted old hag."

"Honestly, mistress, I would have been just as fine not being involved," Yumeko replies.

"Maybe, but we could both use a little excitement."

The armored men are caught completely off guard, not expecting to be hit from behind. A quarter of the reinforcement unit is taken down in Shinki's first strike, with several more falling as they attempt to regroup themselves.

"Yeah!" a white-wolf tengu shouts, while jamming his sword into a tank. He, along with the other tengu in his group, are the first to see Shinki's arrival, getting a morale boost from the sight of the leader of Makai taking down those causing their group to much trouble.

"Alright, boys and girls, let's go greet our new friends!" the tengu man shouts, firing a mass barrage of danmaku from his sword, while using his shield to deflect a few of the shots coming from the armored men.

"Lord Tenma!" Momiji shouts.

"I see them. Alright, let's put them in a pincer, hit them hard from the front, looks like they have the back!" Tenma shots, rallying her group to hit the reinforcement unit of the armored men hard.

"Looks like those nearest to use are helping us to trap this group," Yumeko states, noting the movement of the tengu and kappa groups.

"I like the idea. Alright, everyone, make sure none of them escape!" Shinki shouts.

"Gladly, mistress!" Yumeko shouts, before pulling out a spell card.

"Sword: 'Dance of Blades!'" Yumeko shouts.

"Pandemonium 'Demon's Net!'" Shinki shouts.

Yumeko is quickly surrounded by a series of swords, each with crimson hilts. The blades spin quickly around the maid of Makai, quickly becoming a blur before being shot out into the group of armored men. The blades rain down in a spiraling pattern, not aimed at a set target. Upon hitting the ground, the swords burst into eight swords, which are aimed, catching those close to the where they hit off guard. Yumeko's blades, which are sharp enough to cut through steel, do heavy damage to the tanks, taking out many of them in the first part of her spell. The slow moving vehicles could not compensate for the speed of Yumeko's blades, leaving them open targets. The armored men try to deflect the blades to cover the tanks, only to end up being taken out themselves.

Around Shinki, a mesh of lasers form. The laser mesh starts out small, enclosing the Queen of Makai, as though she was the one being trapped in the net. After a few moments, the net spreads out into the sky, surrounding those within it. The points where the lasers met in the net form small spheres. The spheres glow with a blue light, unlike the pale yellow of the net of lasers. Spheres shot out bursts of small, green danmaku into the opening's in the net, taking out several of the jets and many of the armored men. After the barrage ends, the net disappears, only for Shinki to cast another in a different orientation from the first. A few more of the armored men are caught by surprise, not expecting a new net to form so quickly, and are carved up by the lasers. Several more jets fall from the sky from being hit throughout the duration of Shinki's spell.

"Would you look at that? Well, I'm not about to be outmatched from someone of Makai, whether she's their leader or not!" Tenma shouts.

"Tengu Sign: 'Mountain Hermit!'" Tenma shouts.

Following Tenma's declaration, the Tengu leader fires a spread of ten small danmaku into the sky. Each of the bullets slowly descends down in a radial pattern. After dropping a few feet, the bullets split into ten different bullets in a radial pattern. After dropping further, the bullets split again and again, the pattern continuing as the bullets make their way down to the ground. In the middle of the descent of the first spread of bullets, Tenma fires off a second round to continue the pattern, not giving the forces attacking her group a chance to rest. A group of jets are taken out when the bullets first split, the pilots not expecting small bullets to split off as they did. A few armored men are hit next, while the tanks continue to take a heavy beating from the combined attacks of Shinki and Tenma's forces.

"Ayaya, I can't just stand here either. There's nothing wrong with making the headlines myself once in a while," Aya says, while pulling out a spell card of her own.

"Whirlwind 'Torii Hurricane!'" Aya shouts. After declaring the card, Aya waves her fan, casting a tornado. As the small windstorm spins about, it starts firing off danmaku in a radial pattern. Aya waves her fan again to send out another tornado, then another, increasing the speed she sends out the small windstorms throughout her spell. The small storms have the power to lift up the tanks, with the danmaku within the tornadoes tearing them up before dropping them. All the tanks in the area surrounding Aya are taken out, with some of the tanks being thrown into the jets and armored men in the skies above, those in the sky not expecting such small windstorms to carry such power.

After being hit by repeated attacks form both sides, Jin's reinforcements are nearly completely wiped out, while Yukari's group and the Eientei group are slowly wiping out the rest of Jin's forces.

"This is impossible! How could they be this strong! I'm down to only thirty percent of my forces already!" Jin shouts, as he is forced to dodge a fireball in the shape of a bird.

"Stop running already!" Mokou shouts.

Jin runs into a group of rabbits fighting through a small squad of tanks. With Tewi as their leader, the group of rabbits are overwhelming the tanks.

"Tewi, it's that red one!" one of the rabbits shouts.

"Eh!" Tewi shouts, shifting her attention to the approaching Jin and Mokou.

"Out of my way!" Jin shouts, as he jams his sword into one of the rabbit girls.

"Umi!" Tewi shouts.

The surprised rabbit coughs up blood from the strike before falling to the ground. An angry Tewi starts firing off a mass barrage of danmaku at the red armored man.

"Owing Sign 'Vulnerary of Ohnamuji-sama!'" Tewi shouts.

Tewi is surrounded by chains of small green and yellow danmaku. Tewi directs the chains to make a flower pattern around her, before the chains break off, spreading out in the direction they were heading when Tewi releases them. Tewi repeats the process over, each time releasing the chains faster. Jin races through the group of bullets, making sure not to take a single direct hit. Tewi starts another chain as Jin gets upon her. Jin swings his sword, hoping to remove Tewi's head, but the rabbit of fortune sees the strike, suffering only a cut to her shoulder. The hit is enough to break Tewi's spell, but not her spirit, as she continues to fire off a wide spread of danmaku. Tewi's shots are joined with Mokou's fireballs, giving Jin more to avoid. Jin continues his flight, not caring that the shots missing him are destroying all the tanks he's racing past.

"Stay back, Tewi, I'll handle him. You take care of your friend, okay?" Mokou asks.

"Alright, Mokou," Tewi replies. With the last of the tanks around her wiped out, Tewi grabs Umi and heads for the medical camp.

"That was a cheap shot, you!" Mokou shouts.

"Anyone in my way is a target!" Jin replies, "And now for my final surprise. You might want to help your friends out with this one, because even I can't tear this one down on my own!"

Jin enters in another series of commands into his armor, while still avoiding Mokou's furious assault.

"When are you going to stop running!" Mokou shouts.

"When I'm good and ready," Jin replies, firing off a burst in Mokou's direction to try and shake her off.

As Mokou continues her chase, she notices the ground starting to shake.

"Is this an earthquake?" Mokou asks, while jumping off the ground and flying to avoid losing her footing.

"Lady Yukari!" Ran shouts, as the ground shakes around everyone.

"Is this his doing?" Ran asks.

"I'm not sure," Yukari replies. Yukari turns around to survey the field, then spots something that leaves her stunned.

"Lady Yukari... what... what is this!" Ran shouts upon seeing what Yukari sees.

"You can't be serious!" Genichiro shouts on another part of the battlefield. He is with Flandre, Sanae, and Utsuhou, plowing through one of the last group of tanks.

"Is that a giant mecha?" Sanae asks.

"A mecha?" Utsuho asks.

"A giant robot, not unlike your friend Hisoutensoku, except this one _is_ for fighting," Genichiro replies.

"It's so big," Flandre says.

"We better fall back from that thing. Where's Rinnosuke? He should be able to tell us something about this thing," Genichiro states.

"He's back there, at the medical camp," Sanae replies.

"I think we should talk to him, let's go!" Genichiro shouts.

The group plows through a few armored men on their way to the medical camp. Yukari is also there, wanting to seek some information from Rinnosuke. The others on the field are busy with their own fights, not noticing the behemoth heading in their direction.

"Rinnosuke!" Yukari shouts.

"I see it, Lady Yukari," Rinnosuke replies.

"Genichiro!" Ran shouts, upon seeing the wolf tengu, "Do you know what that thing is?"

"I've never seen anything like that before outside of works of fiction," Genichiro replies.

"That thing... it is called 'Goliath,'" Rinnosuke replies.

"How original, but fitting..." Genichiro mutters with sarcasm.

"It's a mobile fortress, designed for high offense with a strong defense in mind, meant to be unstoppable by normal means. It has shields, though I don't see anything resembling a shield on it, and high powered lasers and danmaku launchers.

"Shields?" Sanae replies.

"Not good," Genichiro replies.

"You don't think?" Yukari says.

"You've never been wrong before, Rinnosuke?" Genichiro asks, sounding nervous.

"I have not. Why? Do you know what these shields are?" Rinnosuke asks.

"Surely you've read some fictional works from the outside world?" Genichiro asks.

"Oh, yes, I'm quite fond of the works by the man man known as William Shakespeare," Rinnosuke replies.

"Not that kind..." Genichiro mutters.

"Um, what are you guys talking about?" Flandre asks.

"Lady Yukari, a barrier, if you may," Ran states.

Yukari forms one, knowing what Ran is trying to do. Ran fires a bullet at it, the barrier flashing for a moment, absorbing the bullet.

"Like that," Ran replies.

"Except a little harder to break," Sanae replies.

"Yukari, can you get around it?" Genichiro asks.

"I can try. We're the most well informed of outside world technology, and the best to handle such a thing, you're all with me, let's go," Yukari states, leading the group towards the Goliath.

As the Goliath approaches, it is noticed by everyone. It is a giant tank, as large as a skyscraper. It had a large pair of treads, each the size of a warehouse. The main body is a large shaft, lined with various launchers. Near the top is a pair of "arms" with a pair of large laser turrets at their end. The "head" piece is triangular in form, with spotlights for "eyes" and a massive laser barrel for a "mouth."

"What kind of nightmarish thing is that?" Tenma says.

Aya takes a couple of pictures of the giant beast, not wanting to miss a chance at a story, though she doesn't have an answer for her leader.

"Mistress," Sakuya states.

"I see it, Sakuya. I'm getting tired of these small things, anyway," Remilia says, throwing a spear into a nearby jet.

"What kind of monstrosity is this? I've never seen the likes of this before, not even on the moon," Eirin states.

"You don't have an idea, either?" Tewi asks, a bandage on her shoulder from her previous injury.

"Oh, that looks like fun," Suika states, her size matching that of the Goliath. She makes a run for the monstrosity, hoping it will provide her more of a challenge than the small "toys" she's stomping in her path.

"Whoa, look at her go," Genichiro states, seeing Suika run for the giant tank.

"She would stand the best chance. Let's see what it does," Yukari states, holding everyone back and making sure the oni has enough space around her.

"Sir, a giant being is approaching is," one of Jin's clones inside Goliath speaks.

"Excellent, a perfect test target," another clone replies, this man having the designation G-alpha-zero-one.

"Zero-three, prepare the laser cannon, full power. That should knock that beast back," Zero-one commands.

"Yes sir," Zero-three replies.

Those with Yukari note the barrel on the head is starting to glow. Suika is still running towards the Goliath, almost on the massive vehicle. Suika throws a punch at the machine, only to be stopped by a barrier in front of her. The barrier is powerful enough to create a near opaque white light when hit. Suika continues punching the machine, but continues to hit the barrier.

"Shields are holding," Zero-two states, another clone on the bridge of the Goliath, located in the head of the massive tank.

"Very well, lock on target, and fire!" Zero-one shouts.

The massive barrel on the head of the Goliath comes to life, firing a laser ten times the size of Marisa's strongest Master Spark spell. Suika is launched through the air, past those fighting, and into a field on the other side of the mountain. Suika shrinks back to her normal size, falling unconscious. She bears burns all over her upper body, her clothes more tattered than they were before.

"That's not good," Genichiro states.

"Lady Yukari, can you get through that things barrier?" Ran asks.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Yukari replies, using her ability to attack the shields of the Goliath.

"Sir, I'm detecting an anomaly on shield generator four... it's the gap youkai, she's attempting to circumvent our shields," Zero-two says.

"Point the port turret at her and fire," Zero-one replies.

The turret at the end of the Goliath's right arm comes to life, firing down on Yukari's group, forcing everyone to move out of the way. With Yukari's concentration broken, she's left unable to get through the shielding.

"They must have some way to detect your ability," Sanae states.

"Or they learned something from that sample they took from you before, Lady Yukari," Ran states.

"It doesn't matter. I have to keep trying. It's a strong barrier, rivaling the strength of the one I have over Gensokyo," Yukari replies.

"But you can travel through that so easily, Lady Yukari," Chen states.

"I made that barrier so I could. This one was made to keep me out. It's not impossible, but if they keep picking me out every time..." Yukari replies, while evading a large laser. The shots fired from the turret are easily three times in width the height of an average person.

"Well then, there's only one other choice, right?" Genichiro asks.

"Lady Yukari?" Ran asks.

"Hit that thing with everything you got!" Yukari shouts.

"Kyuu!" Flandre shouts, attempting to break through the shields with brute force.

"Take this!" Utsuho shouts, firing a large beam from the end of her control rod.

"Wolf Sign 'Fang Laser!'" Genichiro shouts, as he points his sword in front of him. His blade glows with a bright, white light, before firing off a laser. The laser is about half as wide as Marisa's Master Spark, with a well defined point at the end, giving the spell it's name. From Genichiro's sword comes a burst of blue sphere danmaku. The spheres spread out a distance before aiming themselves at the point the laser is hitting. The bursts continue to fire as Genichiro continues to fire his laser. After several seconds, the laser ends, only for Genichiro to fire off another.

"Taboo 'Lävatein!'" Flandre shouts. Flandre uses the spell in a manner similar to Genichiro's. Instead of swinging the massive flame sword coming from her wand, Flandre points it at the Goliath, keeping the beam focused on hitting it. After the sword disappears, a stream of danmaku appear in it's place, hitting the same point the sword hit, before Flandre repeats the process, hitting another point.

"Fusion Sign: 'Neutron Beam!'" Utsuho shouts. Utsuho points her control rod at the Goliath. After she picks her target, the control rod opens up, resembling a cannon with vents for excess heat. The control rod fires off a laser half her height in width. As she fires off the laser, excess heat emerges in the form of dense, red, danmaku spheres the size of Utsuho. The spheres are guided to hitting the point Utsuho is pointing her laser towards, with more spheres joining it throughout the duration of the beam. After it stops, Utsuho charges another beam and repeats the process.

"Youkai Extermination 'Bewitching Power Spoiler!'" Sanae shouts. Sanae directs her spell at the core of the Goliath. A burst of danmaku fire away from the Goliath in all directions. The array of multiple colored bullets then collapse towards the point from which they emerged, hitting the Goliath over it's entire surface. Sanae repeats the process, getting faster and faster throughout the spell, and with more bullets approaching an intensity that almost makes them appear white instead of colored.

"Shikigami's Radiance 'Fox-Tanuki Youkai Laser!'" Ran shouts. Ran fires off a burst of blue sphere danmaku of all sizes. In their wake, a series of bright spheres are left behind. From the spheres emerge a set of blue lasers, which Ran directs towards the Goliath. Ran follows this with a red burst of sphere danmaku, following the same pattern as the blue danmaku, but hitting a different point, ending with a series of red lasers firing at the Goliath. The spell repeats, alternating between the red and blue danmaku, increasing in speed throughout the spell's duration.

"Direction Sign 'Kimontonkou!'" Chen shouts. The small youkai begins spinning around, firing off bursts of green and blue arrow danmaku. The bursts converge towards different points along the body of the Goliath, increasing in speed and density throughout the duration of the spell.

Several other youkai jump in and begin striking the Goliath with various spells, Marisa hitting it with every Master Spark variation she can think of while Reimu hits it with several sealing orbs. The Tengu, Kappa, Makai, and Eientei groups converge on the vehicle, joining in on the fight. The Goliath glows as its shields absorb everything thrown at it, the vehicle only firing at Yukari to keep her from breaking through the shields with her ability.

"Shields are still holding. It's just as the commander said, their magic can't get through our shields. The only one we have to worry about is the gap youkai," Zero-two states.

"Good, good. Open fire on the rest. Let's show them just how powerless they really are. Zero-four, tell all the remaining units to pull out, they need only go after those trying to escape," Zero-one commands.

"Yes, sir," Zero-four replies.

The tanks, jets, and armored men who had been fighting start to pull off, only firing on those chasing after them. Most back away, knowing they need to worry about the big target, rather than the small targets. Once they all pull away, the Goliath opens fire, both laser turrets firing at nearby targets, while the launchers on the rest on the body fire out danmaku spheres of various sizes, the largest of which exploding into small danmaku, like an exploding grenade throwing shrapnel in all directions. The main laser cannon at the head charges up and fires, cutting a line through the youkai attacking it. Many are injured, with those in the path of the laser being completely annihilated.

"Lady Yukari, how much longer!" Ran shouts while firing another laser barrage at the Goliath.

"I can't seem to break through. There's something odd with this thing!" Yukari shouts, while being forced to move out of the way again, being forced to restart her attempts to break through the shields.

The Goliath continues unimpeded, changing it's direction, and heading for the southwestern base of the mountain, where the Kappa reside. Everyone continues hitting it with everything they have, but the monstrosity continues to hold steady, continuing it's relentless attack.

"Lord Tenma, we've lost half of our forces, we should we do?" Momiji asks.

"We're not going to retreat! We can't! They're heading straight for the village. We have to stop this thing before they get there!" Tenma replies.

"But this thing is too much... ah!" shouts a female crow tengu, before being wiped out by the laser cannon.

"Rio!" shouts a male crow tengu, before he is hit by wiped out by several shots from the laser turrets.

"Utarou!" shouts Aya, avoiding meeting the same fate as the couple she knew.

Several of the rabbits were backing off, many of them injured from taking multiple hits from the Goliath. Eirin is trying to keep her group together, but knew it would be impossible without Tewi, who is also starting to back off, resorting to helping get the injured away rather than continue fighting. Shinki and Yumeko are attempting to gather the youkai of Makai into a group to give backup to Tenma's group, only to keep falling apart from a burst of danmaku coming from the Goliath's sides.

"Gah!" Genichiro shouts, nearly being hit by a laser meant for Yukari.

"There has to be some other weakness!" Ran shouts, avoiding the same laser.

"I would agree, but what could it be?" Genichiro shouts, while holding his shoulder, having been injured from the blast. Genichiro falls back, keeping an eye on the Goliath as he does. While heading for the ground, Genichiro notes something about how the Goliath's shields react to taking damage, something he didn't notice while he was busy attacking it himself. Genichiro continues to observe, looking to see if his observation holds up, a plan coming to mind as he slows his descent, opting to stay in the fight, rather than seek out the medical camp.

"That's it! I got it! I know what to do!" Genichiro shouts.

"You do?" Ran asks.

"Yeah! But we'll need every power player we have left. Lady Yukari, can you bring Marisa, Reimu, Yuka, and Rumia over here? I have a plan," Genichiro states.

"If you insist," Yukari replies, dropping her attempts at cracking the barrier to summon forth those asked for. The group appears out of gaps below, momentarily disoriented, but quickly moving out of the way of barrages heading in their direction.

"A little more warning would be nice, ze!" Marisa shouts, nearly losing her hat to a rogue danmaku sphere.

"Sorry, it was my idea. I know how to take this thing down. Utsuho, fire a massive laser... there!" Genichiro shouts, while throwing a danmaku sphere at a point on the base of the Goliath. Utsuho hits the spot. Genichiro observes the shot, nodding in satisfaction.

"Perfect, that's the spot!" Genichiro shouts.

"What's so important about that spot?" Ran asks.

"Those shields are formed by multiple generators. Each one covers a set field of space, with the fields converging to make unified barrier. Each generator has another to help in covering various points on this thing, except for a few small points right at the location of the generators, where there is no overlap. If we hit that point with enough firepower, we should be able to overload that generator, and open a hole in the shields," Genichiro explains.

"That could work. I'll focus my ability on that point as well," Yukari replies.

"Alright, everyone get your best attack ready... and... now! Wolf Sign 'Piercing Fang Laser!'" Genichiro shouts, firing off a more powerful, yet more narrow laser than before.

"Master Spark!" shouts Yuka and Marisa.

"Darkness Sign 'Black Light!'" Rumia shouts, while pointing her sword out like Genichiro's.

"Fusion Sign 'Neutron Beam!'" Utsuho shouts.

"Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal!'" Reimu shouts.

"Shikigami's Radiance 'Fox-Tanuki Youkai Laser!'" Ran shouts.

Yukari focuses her ability on the point all the attacks are directed towards. A bright white light appears at the Goliath's shields attempt to repel the attack. The white light appears as an arc around the point, indicating it's a point where the different fields don't converge. The light gets brighter as the attacks continue to strike before violently flashing out, followed by a large explosion as the attacks get through. This explosion is followed by other small explosions along the surface of the Goliath's body.

The bridge of the Goliath is rocked from the explosions, the staff bearing mixed expressions of surprise and fear.

"Sir, shield generator four has been destroyed! The entire shield grid has overloaded and shut down. We're defenseless!" Zero-two shouts.

"Impossible! Impossible! They shouldn't have the power to do this!" Zero-one shouts, "This is Zero-one to engineering, get my shield back up, now!"

"We did it, ze!" Marisa shouts.

"Let's hit this thing with all we got!" Genichiro shouts.

Out in the field, the others note the explosion coming from the Goliath, followed by the last of their previous barrages getting through the Goliath's shield barrier.

"Mistress, did you see that?" Sakuya asks of Remilia.

"It's about time someone did something! Let's go!" Remilia shouts, a danmaku spear forming in her hand as she races closer to the Goliath. Remilia throws the danmaku weapon at one of the arms, causing a small explosion where it hits.

"Lord Tenma! Look!" Momiji shouts.

"I saw it! Everyone full attack!" Tenma shouts, leading her group in a full assault of the now defenseless Goliath.

"Mistress!" Yumeko shouts.

"Looks like that Yukari is good for something after all. Everyone, follow me!" Shinki yells, leading the youkai of Makai towards the center of the Goliath, danmaku of all kinds being hurled from the group.

"Lady Byakuren!" Shou shouts.

"It would seem fortune is on our side. Nue, Nazrin, Ichirin, Minamitsu, Shou, let's help everyone finish this," Byakuren states.

"Eirin, did you see that?" Tewi asks.

"I did. I believe now it's our turn to attack," Eirin replies.

"I agree with you on that. Everyone, let's go!" Tewi shouts, rallying the rabbits behind her.

All those fighting against Jin's men speed towards the Goliath, everyone using the best of their magic to hit the giant vehicle with all they have. The Goliath keeps firing it's weapons at the others, trying to get them away, but with everyone's renewed determination, most avoid taking any hits. Explosions erupt from the body of the Goliath as it continues to get pummeled by strike after strike.

"Sir, we've lost more generators! Twenty-five percent of our offensive power has been lost as well. Our starboard tread has been severely damaged. We're a sitting duck!" Zero-two shouts.

"Get them away! Fire everything!" Zero-one shouts.

Yuka notes the main barrel by the head is charging up again. Resolving not to let it fire again, she flies up to the top of the Goliath, avoiding the mass of projectiles it's firing in the process. Yuka looks and sees the command staff through the transparent steel of the Goliath's head.

"Sir!" Zero-two shouts upon seeing Yuka. The Flower Master of the Four Seasons gives a twisted smile as she prepares to use one of her strongest attacks. Zero-two activates a pair of hidden turrets on the head, each firing a quick, mass barrage of lasers onto Yuka's location. Yuka smiles and disappears as the lasers converge on her point. A pair of Yukas appear on either side of where Yuka was previously, each bearing a bright, blue glow in their hands.

"Dual Spark!" Yuka shouts, firing directly at the bridge of the Goliath.

"Deflect! Deflect!" Zero-one shouts.

"Too late!" Zero-two shouts, before ducking down in a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable.

A large explosion erupts from the head of the Goliath. Balls of fire shoot out the vents on the Goliath's head from the destruction of it's bridge.

"Kyuu!" Flandre shouts, destroying a section gears working the treads on the left side of the Goliath, while flying up it's body with Genichiro, who is firing several bursts from his sword as he flies. The pair of Youmu and Momiji are flying up the right side of the Goliath's body, firing out danmaku bursts as they go along.

"Take this!" shouts Youmu, as she reaches the right arm of the Goliath. Youmu takes her Roukanken, and plunges it into the metal near the joint of the right arm. She flies up, carving her way through the arm, the blade's power allowing her to cut through the entire width of the arm, despite only going in a small amount. Upon emerging from the top, near the destroyed head, sparks and balls of fire emerge from the now severed arm. The massive limb falls towards the already heavily damaged treads, ripped apart from the first damaging blow. A giant explosion results as the arm and treads explode, rocking what's left of the body of the Goliath. The giant beast begins to fall, prompting everyone to get away from it. Several large explosions erupt from the bottom of the Goliath as it collapses on itself, it's towering main body falling to the ground and bursting into another series of mass explosions.

Flandre watches in awe at the destruction, not seeing a twisted steel bar heading for her position.

"Flan-chan! Look out!" Genichiro shouts, using his speed to grab the blond vampire, taking a hit to the head from the twisted steel in the process. The blow knocks him unconscious, resulting in the pair falling on the ground a good distance away, with Genichiro's momentum carrying the pair.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts, upset when she sees blood staining Genichiro's white hair. Remilia and Sakuya are nearby and see the pair, Sakuya doing a quick check of Genichiro.

"Flandre, thank goodness you're alright! I was worried about you when that thing showed up!" Remilia shouts.

"But... but... Gen-kun," Flandre stutters.

"It's okay, it's just a bad scratch. Looks like he's been knocked out, but that's all," Sakuya states.

"Looks like he kept his word of keeping those he cared about safe. I owe him for that. Let's clean up the rest of the mess and get back to the mansion, so I can have him taken care of," Remilia commands.

"Right away, mistress," Sakuya replies, going after the few remaining armored men, tanks and jets.

Most of the remaining units attempt to escape, knowing they stand no chance after seeing the Goliath destroyed. The fleeing soldiers, with their morale gone, hardly put of the kind of fight they were before when they believed they were to be the victors. The rest are wiped out quickly, leaving a scared land and the carcasses of several burnt machines behind.

"We did it! Hurrah, hurrah!" Tenma shouts, getting resounding shouts from her fellow Tengu.

"Success, everyone!" Tewi shouts, getting cheers from the rabbits.

"Good work, everyone!" Shinki shouts, garnering cheers from her group.

All around, everyone cheers at the victory. Yukari looks out over the field, frowning at the sight.

"Something wrong, Yukari?" Yuyuko asks of her friend.

"This is a rather nasty thing to leave on my beautiful land. Hm... well, I am tired, but I don't want to just leave this lying around either, so..." Yukari states. Yukari holds her hands out over the field. Soon the ground is replaced with what looks like one of Yukari's gaps. The cheering groups pay it no mind, most familiar with Yukari's ability. After a few moments, the ground reappears, looking as though no battle ever took place to begin with.

"Oh, that cleaned up rather nicely, didn't it?" Yuyuko asks.

"Maybe, but I feel like an over-glorified janitor," Yukari replies with a grin.

"It's still better than leaving such a mess, right?" Yuyuko replies.

"Yes, yes, I suppose," Yukari replies.

"Lady Yukari!" Ran shouts, as she and Chen find her master.

"Yes?" Yukari replies.

"I've checked the surroundings to make sure there are no others. That was the last of them," Ran replies.

"Very good, very good. Thank you. Maybe now we may all get a little rest. I'm sure you know this, but we still have much to do," Yukari states.

"Indeed we do," Ran replies, before heading off again.

"Still have much to do?" Yuyuko asks.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I still have a man to take care of. He ran away quite early on. I'm sure he's still around though, likely fuming about how we were able to take care of his little toys so easily," Yukari replies.

"Mistress!" Youmu shouts, approaching the mistress of the Netherworld.

"Oh, Youmu, what took you?" Yuyuko asks.

"My apologies, I was with the Tengu. They kept trying to get me to celebrate with them. Some of them had alcohol on them and started drinking," Youmu replies.

"They are quite the lively bunch. If they invited you, I'm sure they'll let me join, and I could use a little fun. You should come with us, Yukari," Yuyuko states.

"I would love to, but I can't. I have much to take care of yet. Ran should be checking up on something for me, something of great importance. When my business is finished, though, I'll be more than happy to join you in celebration. This is, after all, a great moment worthy of celebration," Yukari replies.

"Okay, Yukari. Take care, okay? Now, Youmu, where are the Tengu?" Yuyuko asks.

"The place the Kappa are flying away from," Youmu replies, guiding her mistress to the rowdy group.

"The Tengu will be Tengu, I suppose," Yukari mutters to herself. She heads to the medical camp, seeing Genichiro being looked after by Eirin. A few others are there, most already bandaged up from their injuries.

"Oh dear, what happened to him?" Yukari asks.

"A bad hit to the head from when that monstrosity exploded," Eirin replies.

"He saved me from getting hit by it," Flandre replies, a slight blush on her face.

"Ho ho, how noble of him. How long will he be out for?" Yukari asks.

"Not for long. His injury is already healing nicely," Eirin replies.

"Very good. I have important business with him when he awakes. Remilia, dear, looks like I'll have to share your company," Yukari states.

"Eh?" Remilia replies.

"Surely you could accommodate me, yes?" Yukari asks.

"S-Sakuya, make sure it's taken care of when we return," Remilia commands.

"Yes, mistress," Sakuya replies.

Reisen comes running to the group, a look of worry on her face.

"Reisen, what's wrong?" Kaguya asks.

"I can't find Mokou. Seems she ran after that Jin guy before that giant tank showed itself," Reisen replies.

"Fujiwara no Mokou the immortal? Ran off after that guy, by herself?" Yukari asks, fear evident in her tone of voice. Eirin looks upset as well.

"That's what I've heard from those I asked," Reisen replied.

"Eirin, do you believe he could extract it?" Yukari asks, her tone of voice hardening.

"I... with the technology he's displayed so far... it's possible. And if he knows what do to from when he interrogated Reisen, then..." Eirin states.

Yukari bears a look of anger and disgust on her face, before looking straight into Eirin's eyes.

"I don't care how, but get him up and healed as soon as possible. I trust I don't have to explain why?" Yukari asks in a tone devoid of her usually playful manner.

"I understand. I have a few things I can use on him, he should be ready in an hour, maybe less," Eirin replies.

"What's going on?" Remilia asks.

"We've been had," Yukari replies.

"When are you going to stop running, coward!" Mokou shouts, throwing fireball after fireball at Jin. Jin finally stops, noting there is nothing and no one else nearby.

"Finally going to face me, are you?" Mokou asks.

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, little girl," Jin replies.

"Little girl, huh? Alright, I'll show you what this little girl can do," Mokou states while pulling out a spell card, "This is for what you did to Reisen. 'Possessed by Phoenix!'"

Mokou disappears from Jin's sight. The man in red is confused at the sight, until he notes a pair of fiery wings forming behind him. At their tips, a group of small, magenta sphere danmaku begin firing out a mass barrage all around him.

"What kind of trick is this!" Jin shouts, firing his shoulder cannons at the wings, but hitting nothing. Jin is forced to continue to move around the shots, until they stop. A pair of familiars appear at the tips. They begin firing off a barrage of blue arrow danmaku in a radial pattern. Jin follows the gaps in their spins, only to find the fiery wings follow his path, dropping more of the familiars as he goes along. Jin continues to move, firing at the familiars in the process, but still hitting nothing. Finally, this phase of the spell ends, to be replaced with more familiars dropping, but these familiars have a form to them that can be hit. They continue to emerge form the tips of the wings, which continue to follow Jin. Jin fires at the familiars, before they burst into a fast moving barrage of small, red sphere danmaku. Jin continues attacking the familiars until the spell finally ends.

"Oh, still standing, huh? Good, because I've just barely begun!" Mokou shouts.

"Have you, now? My, my, I'm scared. Quite scared. In fact, I think I'll bring my friends along, just to make sure you don't overwhelm me," Jin replies in a mock scared tone, before entering in a quick series of commands into his armor.

"Trying to escape through one of those portals? Not going to work!" Mokou shouts, while firing off another barrage of fireball danmaku, forcing Jin to keep moving.

"No running at all, just calling some friends," Jin replies, while avoiding taking any further hits.

A series of six distortions appear in front of Mokou. The sky ripples as a person emerges from each of the distortions. Mokou prepares to take them out, but stops, bearing a look of shock and horror at who comes through.

"What... what is this..." Mokou replies. From the portals emerge En, Cirno, Flandre, Yukari, Reimu, and Reisen.

"You like them? They're not quite as strong as the originals, seeing as I wouldn't be able to control them at full power. They can't use these spell cards of yours, either, but they should still put up quite the challenge for you all at once, right?" Jin asks.

"Copies, huh? I can beat some fake copy, no problem. You better not try to run, because you're next!" Mokou shouts, while approaching the clone in front of her, that of Flandre. Mokou wraps her fists in flames before attempting to punch the Flandre clone, only to be blocked by the clone's Lävatein. The emotionless clone kicks Mokou in the stomach, knocking her back.

"Okay, so they're not that weak," Mokou mutters.

"Don't worry, I won't run. I want to watch. I haven't tested these in battle yet, after all. Now then, attack her, in full, and don't worry about if you kill her, she'll just come back, anyway!" Jin shouts.

The clones don't voice a reply, simply charging at Mokou, hurling danmaku of various kinds, armed with the weapons each use. The Yukari clone had a parasol, the Reimu clone has Yin-Yang Orbs, and the Flandre clone had her Lävatein. Mokou did her best to avoid the quick barrage, throwing punches and danmaku at her attackers.

"Take this! 'Imperishable Shooting!'" Mokou shouts. Mokou's fiery Phoenix wings appear behind her, while Mokou's form becomes transparent. Mokou fires off several waves of danmaku all around her, while the attacks of the others go through her, due to the protection of her spell. The first bursts stretch out, knocking her attacker back, then return to their original form before firing off. The Yukari clone forms a gap, and redirects the blasts, allowing them to hit Mokou. Mokou's surprise in combination with her injury break the spell.

"What the!" Mokou shouts, "That's not possible... wait..."

"Oh, they don't play by your rules, either. They'll use their abilities in full, and how they want," Jin replies.

Mokou gives Jin a glare before she explodes. Flandre is holding her palm up to the immortal, not announcing the use of her destructive ability, just simply using it. Mokou reforms a few moments later, moving away from another explosion from the Flandre clone.

"_Okay, that one hurt. Looks like I'll have to fight using every trick I know,"_ Mokou thinks to herself, _"including the dirty ones."_

Mokou forms her wings again and fires a thick, dense barrage of danmaku at her attackers. The Yukari clone continues to use gaps to attempt to hit Mokou with her own bullets, while the Flandre clone continues to try to blow up the immortal, sometimes catching her hair or the tips of her fingers as Mokou continues to move. The Reisen clone keeps attempting to catch Mokou in her gaze, hoping to trap the immortal in an illusion. The Reimu, En, and Cirno clones attempt to hit Mokou with their own barrages.

"Okay, you're by far the most annoying. Take this!" Mokou shouts, her fiery fists making contact with the Yukari clone's face. Mokou goes to hit her again, but she forms a gap, resulting in Mokou hitting herself. Mokou quickly recovers, lighting the ends of all her limbs ablaze, before continuing her assault. Mokou keeps attempting to hit the gap youkai clone, while avoiding hitting herself, and at the same time avoiding attacks from the others. Explosions rock the area as Mokou continues her melee fight with the Yukari clone. Mokou moves as fast as she can, avoiding the kicks and punches the Yukari clone is throwing, finally landing a few hits after moving faster than the clone can form gaps. The clone Yukari spits up blood from taking a hard hit to the gut. The clone pulls herself back up, and does a sweeping kick, knocking Mokou to the ground. After Mokou hits the ground, the Yukari clone explodes, taking one of Flandre's attacks in place of Mokou.

Mokou rolls over and gets herself back up, avoiding another explosion. She notes the Yukari clone's chest has been blown open. A normal youkai would start to regenerate, needing to take a much more severe injury to be taken down. The clone doesn't heal, instead, she stands up, swaggering back and forth, no longer able to function correctly. Mokou hits her with a quick barrage of fireball danmaku, finishing her off.

"Humph, terrible teamwork," Jin mutters in observation of the fight, maintaining his distance as a result of the clone Flandre's missed attack.

Mokou takes advantage of how "trigger happy" the Flandre clone is, trying to trick her into injuring one of the other clones. Mokou quickly notes each is only focused on getting to her, not even aware of the actions of any of the others. The clone Reimu goes in to attack Mokou directly, firing off ofuda danmaku, while her yin-yan orbs fire out needles. Mokou moves away, allowing a few of the needles to hit the clone Flandre. Reimu herself takes a few hits from the Cirno and En clones.

"_I should take care of Reimu next, those fairies will probably take themselves out, and that vampire might help to take out the others," _Mokou thinks to herself, while avoiding a stream of bullets from the Reisen clone.

"Alright, how about this?" Mokou asks, while gathering magical energy into her hands. To her left is Reimu, while on her right is Reisen. When the pair get close enough, Mokou makes like she's going to hit the pair, but only fires off a quick flare before dashing into the sky. The blinded pair of clones continue to charge at each other, expecting to see Mokou. When the light from the flare disappears, the clone Reisen falls back with several needles embedded in her body, while the clone Reimu's right arm had been blown off after trying to hit Mokou with her gohei, instead getting hit with several bullets.

The cloned Reimu fell down, only affected by the blood loss, as though she couldn't feel any pain. The cloned Reisen held still, shaking a little from needles, but apparently more affected. Mokou took the opportunity to charge at the clone Reimu, decapitating her with a fire imbued fist.

"Sorry Reimu, then again, you're not Reimu, are you?" Mokou asks, as the clones body falls to the ground, lifeless.

"Not too bright, oh well. Maybe I'll make them smarter next time," Jin mutters to himself, still staying out of the fight. Mokou goes after the pair of fairies next, first overwhelming the Cirno clone with a mass barrage of fireballs, quickly knocking her down. Unlike a regular fairy, the clone Cirno doesn't reform after being burned to death. En fights fire with fire, throwing fireball danmaku of all shapes and sizes at Mokou. Mokou laughs at the uncontrolled burst, launching one of her own. Mokou's bursts hit En hard, knocking the small fairy back. Mokou goes to pick her up, looking her over.

"You know, I don't think I've met you before," Mokou mutters, before moving away, En's body exploding from Flandre's attack.

"Guess I won't get the chance," Mokou mutters, before going after Flandre. Mokou fires out another mass barrage at the cloned vampire, but she uses her greater agility to avoid taking any hits, while still forcing Mokou to continue to move.

"Geez, fast one, huh? And plenty of energy to boot," Mokou remarks, while continuing her barrage. Mokou gets an idea while fighting, throwing out another barrage, while narrowly avoiding an explosion that almost takes out her legs. Mokou's barrage appears to miss Flandre completely, as though Mokou intended to miss. The fireballs then stop around Flandre in a dense form around her. Mokou directs the bullets inward, hitting Flandre from all sides, causing an explosion from the collision.

"So much for that," Mokou mutters, while walking towards the still downed and shaking Reisen. While walking to the cloned moon rabbit, Mokou suddenly feels a power, before being knocked back by her entire back being blown open. Mokou leaves a bloody streak as she slides on the ground, looking up to see Flandre, still attacking, having only lost her left arm and having the crystals on her wings cracked and shattered. Mokou's damaged body starts to regenerate, but not before the Flandre clone blows off Mokou's legs, kicking her further along the ground.

"_Gah, this hurts as bad as anything Kaguya has done to me,"_ Mokou thinks to herself.

"Ho ho, so there's potential after all, eh? I was expecting it from the gap youkai, though. Oh well," Jin remarks, still observing.

The Flandre clone moves over to Mokou, preparing to blow Mokou's head off, when the clone gets hit by a quick barrage of danmaku shaped like bullets.

"What the!" Mokou shouts, watching as the Flandre clone is knocked back. Mokou looks up to see the Reisen clone standing, staring down Flandre.

"How dare you make me hurt Mokou!" the cloned Reisen shouts.

"Reisen, is that you?" Mokou asks in surprise, her body finally regenerating.

"I'm... not sure, but I don't care. I'm not about to be controlled by someone like that!" the Reisen clone shouts.

"The original personality has returned? This shouldn't be possible!" Jin shouts, surprised at the turn of events.

"I'll take what I can get. I was getting tired of being blown up. Let's put this little girl to rest, so we can get the guy pulling the strings," Mokou states, readying for another barrage.

Mokou charges forward, while the Reisen clone fires a bullet spread to cover Mokou, the Flandre clone not paying attention to the Reisen clone's attacks.

"Attack Reisen as well!" Jin shouts, noting how literal the cloned Flandre was taking his previous orders.

Reisen started to move, knowing she was now a target, an explosion where she stood before proof. As Reisen moves, Mokou moves upon Flandre, delivering a fire aided kick to the clone's face. The force of the kick causes the clone to drop her Lävatein wand. Mokou picks it up, feeling the power going through it, and charges at Flandre, bisecting the clone with her own weapon. The Reisen clone finishes off the cloned Flandre with a quick barrage, ending the clone's attack. Mokou stands side by side with Reisen, both ready to attack Jin.

"Turning on your master, are you? I order you to kill Fujiwara no Mokou right now!" Jin shouts. He's answered with a quick barrage of bullets forcing him to move.

"You're not my master!" Reisen shouts.

"Guess I'll have to get used to two of you," Mokou replies.

"Two of me? Oh, right. That's going to be hard, but I'll worry about it later," Reisen states.

"Very well, two of you will make this that much more interesting," Jin replies, while drawing his beam katana.

"Stay back, Reisen, that body you have isn't as durable as your original," Mokou states.

"Alright, but if you get backed into a corner, I'm joining in," Reisen replies.

"Fine by me," Mokou replies, while charging forward, firing off fireball danmaku bursts, while holding the confiscated Lävatein in her hand. Jin avoids the quick burst, adding in one of his own. Mokou ducks and weaves the shots, bringing her weapon to bear on Jin. Jin blocks with his weapon, and the two begin a sword duel. Mokou pulls her weapon back, quickly pulling the weapon to strike at Jin's right. Jin blocks the strike, but part of his armor is damaged. Jin pulls his weapon back to strike at Mokou, but Mokou evades, while landing a kick to Jin's midsection, followed up by a vertical slash, which Jin barely blocks as he regains his footing. Jin bears to attack again, only to be blocked, with Mokou getting a chance at another quick strike. Jin blocks, but his left shoulder cannon is destroyed. The small explosion knocks him to the side, Mokou firing out several bursts of fireball danmaku, knocking Jin about.

"_This armor is too bulky for this kind of fight. Without speed, I can't win against someone like her,"_ Jin thinks to himself, while quickly jumping up to avoid another danmaku burst, his foot jets being damaged from the strike. Mokou charges forward again, ready to bring the Lävatein down on Jin's head, but Jin rolls his head to the side, receiving a cut to the side of his helmet. The visor readout is damaged, forcing Jin to move back, and discard his helmet, revealing his face to Mokou, who has not seen any of his clones before. Mokou notices the missing left ear and scar.

"Lose a fight to someone else, eh?" Mokou taunts.

"Hardly, I won that encounter, just as I'll win this one!" Jin shouts, as he charges again, this time losing some of his hair to a near miss. Jin blocks Mokou's next strike, and tries to kick Mokou back, but is too slow, allowing Mokou to roll behind Jin and nearly cleave him in two, the Lävatein damaging the equipment on the back of Jin's armor, resulting in some sparks shooting off. Jin tries to hit Mokou in the side, only managing to cut Mokou's shirt, while Mokou delivers a roundhouse to Jin's midsection with enough force to damage more of the armor.

"Give up yet?" Mokou asks.

"Hardly!" Jin shouts, as he backs off. Jin firing off several projectiles to cover himself, forcing Mokou to move back.

"Trying to escape?" Mokou asks, preparing to charge after the man in red.

"Not hardly," Jin replies, while pointing his left arm at Mokou. A strange device, appearing to be a claw with bladed tips launches itself at Mokou. Mokou avoids it, only for it to turn around and hit her from behind. The device pierces into Mokou's body, and starts to emit an electrical charge through Mokou's body, causing her enough pain to drop the Lävatein and fall to the ground.

"I was getting bored, so I thought I wound end it," Jin replies, a grin on his face.

"What... what is this?" Mokou asks, struggling to talk.

"Oh, nothing fatal. By design of course. You see, I know I can't kill you, and if I blew you apart, you would just come back together again. However, from what I learned, you still feel pain. This device here ensures you'll continue to feel pain, but you'll never die from it. It's a shame it's power is limited, but the one at my base has enough power to allow you to live through this for all eternity. Nice way to handle an immortal freak such as yourself, right?" Jin asks, before being forced to move back from a stream of bullets.

"Ah, you, I almost forgot about you," Jin states, while rushing forward. Reisen tries to avoid Jin's strike, but ends up with his sword going through her gut. The Reisen clone coughs up blood from the hit, her magic energy fading.

"You're just a failed experiment. How you gained the personality and memories of the original while the others did not is a mystery to me, one that I don't care enough to investigate at the moment. I have what I need right there. Now, kindly die and be forgotten," Jin states, while kicking the Reisen clone off of his blade. Reisen falls to the ground, in too much pain to move.

Jin smirks, until he notes a gigantic explosion in the distance.

"What!" Jin shouts, pulling up his right arm, and entering in some commands, before bringing it up to his face.

"G-Alpha-Zero-One, respond, this is Commander Hiodoshi. What's your status? Come in!" Jin shouts, receiving nothing but static.

"So they destroyed the Goliath after all. I suppose that Tiara was right, and I'll be in for a lecture, but I don't care. I have the key to immortality right here. That's all that matters," Jin states, while going over to Mokou, tying her up with a steel cable, then pulling her up. Jin enters some more commands into his arm, smiling at what he sees.

"Ah, good, the portal generator is still functioning. Too bad. If you missed that, you would have forced me to think of another way to escape without notice. Not that I didn't plan for this, of course," Jin replies, while walking over to a small patch of dirt that appears to have been dug up recently. Jin entered in more commands into his right arm, resulting in a metal case emerging from the ground. Within the case was a replacement set of armor. Jin replaced the damaged sections, before opening a portal to his base, taking Mokou with him.

Nearly a half hour after the destruction of the Goliath, Yukari, with Reisen, Tewi, and Ran are looking through the area for signs of Mokou.

"Her scent is over the area. It would seem she had been through here," Ran states.

"I hope we're not too late," Reisen replies.

"As do I, for the sake of everyone in Gensokyo," Yukari states.

As the group continues along Mokou's path, Ran bears a look of sudden confusion, getting Yukari's attention.

"Something wrong?" Yukari asks.

"Something is very wrong. I can sense your scent, along with those of the ice fairy, that fire fairy, Reimu, Reisen, and yourself," Ran replies.

"That shouldn't be. None of the fighting occurred over here. I haven't even been in this area looking for Mokou," Reisen replies.

"I don't like the implications of this," Yukari states. The group stops when they see the bodies of the clones lying on the ground, in various degrees on damage based on how they were killed. Yukari herself is shocked to see what looks like her own incinerated corpse lying on the ground with it's chest blown open, recognizable by her dress and body shape.

"It would seem they've been experimenting in other regards," Yukari states.

"Rei... sen..." a rough voice states from the ground.

"Eep!" Reisen shouts, backing away from the source of the voice. Shock on her face from coming face to face with herself.

"W-what is this?" Reisen asks.

"They... he... that man... Jin... he took Mokou," the clone Reisen states.

Yukari notes the Reisen clone is alive, and uses one of her spells to heal her injury. The clone tries to get up, but has trouble doing so.

"Careful dear, I just adjusted the border of time to make you heal instantly before death, so don't push yourself too hard. Now then, you said Jin took Mokou?" Yukari asks.

"He did... through a portal," the clone replies.

Yukari pales, upset with the information.

"Not good," Ran states.

"Indeed, Ran. It would seem the worst case scenario may be upon us," Yukari states.


	13. Scramble

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 13 – Scramble**

Jin arrived in the portal room of of his Mountain Base with Fujiwara no Mokou in tow. He was greeted by S-zero-one. No one else was present in the room normally under heavy guard and manned by a team of at least five.

"I see you have the immortal," S-zero-one states.

"I do. I take it you understand how important secrecy in this matter is?" Jin asks.

"I understand fully, but what about Lady Tiara? She's not so hard to fool. What did you plan on telling her?"

"As far as she's concerned, one of the people I was with captured an advanced fire user, a step up from the fairies we were using for such samples. That should be sufficient for now. By the time she get suspicious and acts on it, it will be too late for her to do anything about it."

"I see. I hope you're right. It's a guarantee you've already fallen from her good graces for that obscenely large distraction you pulled."

"Wars have been started over less in the past. Starting a war as a distraction to capture the key to immortality is better a reason than many others. Besides, I thought the Goliath would have been more effective."

"It needed to be tested more. As you requested, I monitored the Goliath fully while it was in battle. There was a fatal flaw in the shield grid, allowing an overload to disable it with the destruction of only one of the generators."

"Is that what it was? Even then, that would have only delayed it. If they figured out how to destroy one, they would have destroyed the others. They may have lost more of their number, but they would have ultimately succeeded. I didn't expect to kill them all off with one little super weapon, after all."

"You seemed rather confident before."

"Optimistic, not confident. Not that I would have that Tiara thinking otherwise. I merely led her to believe it was possible to win. After all, I was right in saying she would have no way of defeating it on her own."

"That much is true. Now then, shall I begin the process of extracting the elixir from that immortal?"

"No, I want to do that myself. Put her in a cell for now, assuming you completed the task I gave you before I left, of course.

"It is finished. The serum will give you access to all of the abilities of those we took samples from. I made sure to filter out anything pertaining to the identity and state of mind of those the samples were taken from."

"Are you sure? One of those clones you gave me recovered her memories."

"I noticed. They were imperfect and rushed, though. They were a last minute request on your part, don't expect me to get anything perfect with only twelve hours to work with. Besides, I made sure to test the serum on one of your clones. He responded perfectly, even formed a gap on the spot. He didn't demonstrate any change in personality, nor were there any physical anomalies."

"Very good. Did you dispose of him after your tests?"

"Gave him a follow up serum, at least, that's what he believed the powerful toxin I gave him to be. There's nothing left of him but a pile of burnt flesh, which is currently being incinerated."

"Excellent. How long will it take for the serum to take full effect?"

"You'll be unconscious for about three to four hours, until the serum runs its full course. It may take a little longer in your case, since I've added pain relievers to this one. While the pain experienced was not fatal, it appeared to be rather uncomfortable for the test subject."

"I see. Fine, a little delay will be of no consequence. It's a sure bet that Yukari will figure out what I've done, but she still doesn't know where I am. There's a lot to this land, she'll be looking around for a while to find us here."

"I hope you're right about this. She's rather intelligent. She's demonstrated an ability to think ahead and anticipate just about anything, as well as keeping in mind at least two backups, should her primary plans fail. Not one to be taken lightly in terms of thinking power."

"She will not find this place so easily. It would be different if she knew Tiara was involved, but she hasn't the slightest. As far as she's concerned, I have a vast supply of technology as my disposal to create an army of any size anytime I wish. That was the point I was trying to press upon her. Now then, prepare the serum and take this one to a holding cell."

"Very well. I'll have it taken care of," S-zero-one replies, while looking over the now unconscious Mokou. She continues to twitch from the constant pain of the device Jin placed on her. The scientist summons a guard to take the immortal to the special holding cell Jin provided for her, before leading Jin to a secured room with the lock of a vault upon it. Within the room was a doctor's table at its center with health monitoring equipment. Jin removes his armor, placing it in a special storage compartment on one side of the room. S-zero-one opened up another compartment, which is locked with a safe lock, the same as the one on the room. Within is a syringe containing a fluid with a bluish glow to it. The scientist injects it into Jin before turning to the monitors to see how Jin's body responds to the serum.

In the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Genichiro is waking from his injury during the battle. Within the room is Flandre, who had been waiting to see Genichiro wake up.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts, jumping on the bed Genchiro lays in and giving him a hug.

"Ah, Flan-chan, you're safe. That's a relief. Uh... I feel like I just got run over by a bus," Genichiro mutters.

"What's a bus?"

"Remember those cars we saw while we were in my world? Imagine one that's really long, and many times more heavy."

"That would hurt a lot."

"Not as much as other things," comes a voice from the other side of the room. On the wall is one of Yukari's gaps, with Yukari herself emerging from it.

"Lady Yukari? What are you doing here?" Genichiro asks.

"It's an issue of utmost importance that brings me here. It seems the medications Eirin gave you took a little longer than I would have hoped, but they still halved your recovery time, at least," Yukari states.

"That's not surprising, I have a high tolerance to medications of any kind. I found this out when pharmaceuticals came into wide use. Not sure how that works, but I found it rather inconvenient while stuck in a human body to be unable to be treated for many things that plagued a human body," Genichiro replies.

"I see. That would explain it. The doctor was beginning to think she made some kind of error, though she guessed this, as well. Oh well, it doesn't matter at this point. What matters is why I'm here. Fujiwara no Mokou was captured in the middle of today's battle," Yukari states.

"Mokou was captured?" Genichiro asks.

"It was confirmed by a clone Jin used to fight her with. For whatever reasons, this clone has the same memories as the one she was created from, Reisen Udongein Inaba. Eirin plans to study her later, but we need to rescue Mokou as soon as possible," Yukari replies.

"Just how are we going to do that? We don't even know where Jin is, let alone have a way of getting there," Genichiro replies.

"I have that much taken care of. I'll explain it downstairs. Everyone is there waiting, and I'm sure you could use a meal after being out for so long," Yukari states.

"Eating can wait!" Genichiro shouts, before his stomach interrupts him.

"Gen-kun, I think you should have dinner. Sakuya made you a nice meal," Flandre says.

"Okay, okay, I'll eat," Genichiro mutters while getting himself out of the bed. The trio make their way to the dining room of the mansion, where Sakuya is serving dinner to everyone gathered. There are several people gathered, the kappa, Kawashiro Nitori, Kamishirasawa Keine, Yagokoro Eirin, Reisen, Reisen's clone, Inaba Tewi, Houraisan Kaguya, Lorelei Mystia, Wriggle Nightbug, Yakumo Ran, Yakumo Chen, Kirisame Marisa, and Hakurei Reimu, along with the senior staff of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and En.

"Odd cast of characters," Genichiro mutters.

"Ah, so you're finally awake, Genichiro?" Remilia asks.

"High tolerance to chemicals, bad for medicines," Genichiro replies.

"I thought so," Eirin mutters to herself.

"Well, I guess this means you can finally tell us about this big plan of yours, right?" Reimu asks.

"Yes, yes, dear. You need not be so impatient-"

"You're the one who told us to make haste!" Reimu shouts, cutting off Yukari.

"Rushing into things will solve nothing. I was just a little flustered, that's all," Yukari replies.

"Yes, there's nothing to worry about. We should be able to get there in time, assuming Yukari knows what I believe she knows," Eirin explains.

"And he won't be rushing. As far as he knows, he has all the time in the world, and this is the fact that we intend to take advantage of," Yukari states.

"You say this as though you know where he is. There's only one mountain shrine in Gensokyo, and we checked it out already. There's nothing there," Reimu replies.

"Is there?" Yukari asks.

"What do you mean 'is there?' Of course, my shrine isn't on a mountain, just at the top of a high hill and Byakuren's temple is in the Human Village," Reimu answers.

"Yes, that much is true. But that's not the whole truth," Yukari replies.

"You mean there's another shrine in Gensokyo?" Marisa asks.

"Three more, to be precise," Ran states.

"What!" shout many of those present.

"What are you talking about? There are only two shrines in Gensokyo!" Reimu shouts.

"Two that you know of, three that you don't. It was intended to stay that was until you found a mate. At that point in time, Genji was supposed to tell you what I'm about to say to everyone," Yukari replies.

"Genji? He knows about this, too?" Reimu asks.

"He has been adviser to the Hakurei Clan since the creation of the border, of course he knows," Yukari replies.

"What does the border have to do with this?" Remilia asks.

"A good bit, if you'll allow me to explain. There are, in fact, five Hakurei shrines in Gensokyo," Yukari starts.

"Five? But that would give us six shrines, if you include the Moriya Shrine," Reimu states.

"Let me finish, dear. Your ancestor and I designed many fail safes for the barrier, should something ever happen to your shrine. I told you before about the trees around your shrine being one of these, right?" Yukari asks.

"I remember you saying something about that once," Reimu replies.

"There are others in place as well, in the form of four additional shrines. Your shrine is the Eastern Hakurei shrine. There are shrines for each of the four cardinal points, with a fifth in the center of Gensokyo, on Youkai Mountain," Yukari explains.

"Wait, so that means Sanae's shrine is actually Reimu's?" Marisa asks.

"Kanako was likely drawn to that point, since it's one of the anchor points of the barrier. The magic of the barrier is still in place, strengthened by the faith gathered by the goddesses currently residing there. As I had yet to seal anything there, their presence aids in maintaining the stability of the barrier," Yukari explains.

"So there are things sealed in the shrines? Anything in mine I should know about?" Reimu asks in a stern tone.

"Not all of the shrines have something sealed within them. I have only used one of them for this purpose. You did try to seal that spirit there once, if I do recall, but she managed to break free. You might have been able to keep her there, if you were more diligent in your training, but never mind that. Our concern is what is in the Northern Hakurei Shrine, the one I did use to seal something," Yukari replies.

"Again, what does this have to do with Jin and his group?" Remilia asks.

"I'm getting to it, my little vampire," Yukari replies, earning a grunt from Remilia, "I sealed a powerful youkai there, Ankyou Tiara. Jin is working with her."

"What prompts you to believe this?" Eirin asks.

"Tiara's ability allows her to make a perfect copy of anything she sees with her mirror. I believe you should understand why I believe this," Yukari replies.

"I see. That's why the copies are perfect, showing none of the defects cloning technology produces," Eirin states.

"A youkai that copies things? Doesn't sound very useful," Marisa mutters.

"Oh, quite useful in the right hands. How do you think Jin came up with that little army of his?" Yukari asks.

"He used her power to make that?" Reimu asks.

"More than likely. I'm not sure how long it took her, but that would be how he would have gone about it. I would think he's given her some kind of additional source of power, merging his technology with her power to allow him to amass numbers quickly. Even then, without that power, she is a formidable opponent. She nearly defeated me in the past, after trying to take over Gensokyo. After her failed attempt, I sealed her in the shrine, a place only one group outside of myself knows about. They've been guarding the shrine for years," Yukari explains.

"Who has been guarding it?" Reimu asks.

"The Yuki-onna. They live on Glacier Mountain, where the shrine is located, on the northern border of Gensokyo," Yukari answers.

"Glacier Mountain... that's the mountain shrine Jin mentioned before!" Reisen shouts.

"Correct. As soon as you mentioned a mountain shrine, I immediately suspected Jin had set up his base there. I only aided you in checking the Moriya Shrine as a formality, but this is where Jin is located. I confirmed this with the battle. I knew they would approach from the north, and anticipated their actions under that assumption," Yukari explains.

"So that's why you had everyone gather at the south face of the mountain?" Remilia asks.

"Correct. I knew he would come from the north, and believed he would go after the nearest youkai settlement. That would be the Tengu and Kappa villages of Youkai Mountain. He's proven his thinking is more straightforward, rather than intricate. Not unlike so many of you here, but that's beside the point," Yukari states.

"What we need to do is get there, and get there now, before Jin can get a chance to extract the Hourai Elixir from Mokou," Eirin says.

"I agree. I have a plan just for that," Yukari replies.

"Plan? We should just charge in there and blast them to bits, ze! They'll never see it coming!" Marisa shouts.

"Are you so sure? I would be willing to bet my mansion he has some nasty defenses set up around his little stronghold to keep anything he doesn't want out, including more barriers like the one on that monstrosity from earlier," Yukari replies.

"So we blast through them, I still don't see the problem," Marisa states.

"We could, but that would take time. Time we don't have. Keep in mind that once we arrive, Jin will likely expedite the process of extracting the elixir from Mokou," Eirin explains.

"And there's no guarantee we'll be able to just run on in fast enough," Ran adds.

"So, I thought up a better idea. One that requires an individual skilled with technology, as well has having a good well of power to work with," Yukari states, while looking at Genichiro.

"Huh? Me?" Genichiro asks.

"Yes, you," Yukari answers.

"And what do you think I can do? Find a pin pad, or something, and magically pull the shutdown code for his defenses out of my rear?" Genichiro asks.

"Nothing of the sort, dear. Nitori here has taken care of you entrance fee," Yukari replies.

"Yeah, I, uh, finished studying those armor suits, and reconstructed one of them," Nitori speaks.

"You did? Ah, I see. You want me to use it to get into their base, and find a way to shutdown their defenses without getting their attention, right?" Genichiro asks.

"And rescue Mokou. That takes priority over everything else. If you can do that much, we can figure out the rest from there," Yukari replies.

"That's crazy. Even if I do get in there, and grab Mokou, there will be guards all over me. My little disguise will stop working at that point, and if I don't get their defenses down, I'll be trapped," Genichiro states.

"That may be true, but even then, you would be able to stall them substantially, allowing us a chance to find a way to break through the defenses from outside. We just need you to make sure they don't get their hands on Mokou, and try to get the elixir out of here while we're tearing down the walls. It would be great if you could do that much for us, but not necessary," Yukari explains.

"Also keep in mind they'll focus their efforts on repelling us, not repelling you. They won't even give you a second thought while we're trying to get in," Ran states.

"I see. Alright then, I'm up for it. Still, if this is so important, why didn't you use one of your barrier tricks to wake me up faster?" Genichiro asks.

"There are limits to everything, dear, including my power. I could have done that, but you still would be feeling some pain afterward, as well as still have a drain on your power. I can't simply restore your power with the flick of a wrist," Yukari explains.

"More like you could, but would have rather not bothered yourself if someone else could do it for you," Reimu mutters.

"I heard that, but don't worry about it. It's not as though you were out for so long, not much slower than if I had done something, so don't worry about it. Now then, Nitori, you did say there was something Genichiro needed to know?" Yukari asks.

"Oh, right. I'll show you. I have it in another room," Nitori answers.

The Kappa leads everyone gathered one of the mansion's many lounging rooms. A set of armor is set up on a stand in the middle.

"This is it, right here. It has everything except for one thing, this," Nitori states, while pointing to a location on the right forearm. There appears to be something missing from it.

"What is supposed to be there? Was it damaged in the other units?" Genichiro asks.

"It's an ID chip. It's unique for each person. If I put in the ID chip for a dead person, you would be picked out immediately. You'll have to steal one from someone who is not known to be dead," Nitori explains.

"So it's like using a fake ID. Okay, I get it. I'll steal one off of someone else. There's bound to be someone else flying around out there," Genichiro replies.

"So, you know what to do, now, right?" Yukari asks.

"Yeah, pretty much. Anything important I need to know about this thing?" Genichiro asks.

"It's all thought activated. The helmet links with the user's mind. It isn't set to work with just one person; anyone can use it. There are triggers in the hands for manual firing, but you shouldn't need any of them, as long as the helmet isn't damaged," Nitori explains.

"Huh. You try it out?" Genichiro asks.

"Yeah, and it works just fine. That's how I know it works. I had to set it up to work without the ID chip, but it'll work just fine once you get a new one in there," Nitori replies.

"Didn't know you guys knew anything about computers and stuff like this," Genichiro replies.

"They don't. I helped her out with that after she had finished everything else. Since Lady Yukari always brings us to the outside world, we've been able to learn a lot about modern technology and how to put it to use," Ran explains.

"Oh. Huh," Genichiro states.

"You guys know a lot about the stuff Gen-kun has, right? Like that picture card he has with his human self on it? And those money card things?" Flandre asks.

"That 'picture-card' is actually a lot like the part Genichiro needs to complete his armor outfit. It's meant to be a unique identifier for helping keep the identities of people organized, as well as a way of sorting out all their personal information. It's useless to have something like that in Gensokyo, but it's a vital part of the Outside World," Ran explains.

"I see," Flandre replies, while thinking over what Ran said.

"It's not so hard, really. Most of us know about all of that, but don't really think about it. We just let it be someone else's problem. Well, might as well see if all of this fits," Genichiro states.

"Put this on first. The rest goes on top if it," Nitori states, while pointing to a skin tight, dark green jumpsuit. Genichiro nods, and makes his way to a private room to change. When he returns, he places the rest of the armor outfit on, placing the helmet on last. The armor comes to life as Genichiro places it on, the small indicators lighting up, energy flowing from the armor's power core to the maneuvering jets and weapons.

"Whoa, this is weird. It feels like the armor is a part of me. Using it is as natural as using a part of my body," Genichiro replies.

"That means it's working perfectly. Once you have that chip, you'll be able to get into their base without a problem. I put a voice changer in the helmet, so you'll sound like everyone else. Just make sure you don't take the helmet off," Nitori explains.

"Right. I wouldn't take it off, anyway. They would know something was wrong before I spoke to them," Genichiro replies.

"Well, now that we have this part of the plan set, it's time to discuss the other part, our part," Yukari states.

"We go in blasting them, right?" Marisa asks.

"More or less, but after giving Genichiro a half-hour to take care of his mission," Yukari states.

"That's not too long," Genichiro replies.

"There's only so much time we can spare. It'll take some time to get there as it is. Even with Lady Yukari's gaps, we can't just appear on their front doorstep," Eirin states.

"And even then, I don't know where their stronghold is in relation to the shrine. They may be part of the same building, they may be completely separate. I have a communicator in that armor Nitori installed for me. You can explain to us the layout when you arrive, but even then, I only know to go to the shrine. If their base is several miles away," Yukari explains.

"Then I'll be on my own for a little while. I'll try not to cut it too close, then," Genichro replies.

"Well, not that that's over with, when do we leave?" Remilia asks.

"After everyone has what they need," Yukari replies.

Everyone nods and goes after the spell cards and other weapons and tools they need. Most already had what they needed from the battle earlier, while the SDM staff gather additional spell cards and tools. After a few minutes, everyone meets in the foyer.

"So, is everyone set up?" Yukari asks.

"We're all ready here," Remilia replies.

"Then it's time to depart. Genichiro, use the GPS on the armor to find your way. I put the location you need to head to in it. I trust you know what that means?" Yukari asks.

"I do, but how on earth does GPS work within the boundary?" Genichiro replies.

"The same way my cell phone does. Don't worry about the picky details, dear," Yukari answers.

"What are you talking about, Gen-kun?" Flandre asks.

"Global Positioning System, let's me know where I am and how to get to where I'm going. It's one of those Outside World conveniences. I'd rather follow the wind and the country, but I suppose I don't have that luxury this time around," Genichiro replies.

"Quite. Now then, get yourself going, at your best speed. We'll be behind you, okay. Send me a message when you arrive, then make sure not to get too much attention until we begin our attack, okay?" Yukari asks.

"Alright, got it. Nothing I haven't tried to do in a previous life, though the odds were a little better and there wasn't any magic involved," Genichiro replies.

"Good luck, Gen-kun," Flandre states, before Genichiro makes his way to the exit.

"Wait, Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts.

"Yes, Flan-chan?" Genichiro asks.

Flandre runs up and gives Genichiro a hug, causing him to blush under his helmet.

"Make sure you come back alive, okay?" Flandre asks.

"Don't worry, Flan-chan. I promise you I'll come out just fine. Just make sure to open the door for me if I get stuck, okay?" Genichiro asks.

"Okay! It's a promise!" Flandre shouts.

Genichiro takes off his helmet to allow Flandre to see his smile, while giving her a thumbs up.

"Best of luck, guys!" Genichiro shouts, before turning to the exit and flying off, using the jets on the armor to add to his already high speed.

"Let's go!" Flandre shouts, ready to take the lead before Yukari puts a barrier in front of her.

"Now, now, little one, I think the one who knows where we're going should lead. And we're not racing him, now. We need to make sure we keep far behind him," Yukari says.

"Oh, right," Flandre replies, while making a cheeky grin.

Yukari returns the smile before leading everyone out.

At Jin's Mountain Base, Jin himself is waking up from the treatment he was given.

"Ah, commander, it would seem you are awake," a scientist clone says.

"I don't feel any different."

"Try to use one of your abilities."

"Alright," Jin replies, while firing out an ice spear. The action felt as natural to him as breathing. Jin tried fire next, right before making a gap to appear on the other side of the room.

"Perfect, perfect! Just what I was hoping for!" Jin shouts.

"Sir, Lady Tiara has sent for you. She wishes to see you immediately," the scientist says.

"Oh? Does she know why I was out?"

"Treatment for injuries sustained in battle. We provided her with your damaged armor suit as evidence to the point. She appears to believe it."

"Very well, I will meet with her, then. I'm sure she has so much she wants to say to me," Jin mutters as he puts on one of his red jump suits and boots. Jin makes his way through the corridors of the base, making his way for Tiara's room in the actual shrine. Jin enters the main shrine room, kneeling down before Tiara.

"It would seem you've been healed," Tiara states.

"My injuries were not too severe, Lady Tiara," Jin replies.

"Oh? Well, never mind that. I didn't bring you here to see how you were doing. I believe you should already know why you are here."

"My battle served it's purpose. If we make another army like the one we had before, we can continue to wear them down. All I need to do is make a couple more of the Goliath model tanks, and we can crush everyone in this land!"

"If one failed, why do you think making another will help? I heard from your men that monstrosity had some kind of flaw in it's design. You really think someone like Yukari wouldn't try to take advantage of something like that?"

"I'm aware. That's something that can be fixed, then we can beat them back, destroy their villages and wipe them out. I took down many of them already. I just need to keep doing it again and again."

"Save it! I don't want to hear any more of your nonsense! Your technology is no match for the magic of Gensokyo. How many times do I have to tell you? How many times do you have to fail? What will it take for you to understand this fact! Your technology has it's perks and advantages, but your devices, in no way, guarantee us victory against this land. You should have waited much longer before declaring this little war of yours. You clearly weren't ready for such a move."

"That first battle was a test, to see just what they could throw at us. All I need is another army, and..."

"You'll crush them? Stop going in circles. Trying to win me over by repeating the same thing again and again isn't going to work. If you want to make another army, then make one yourself. I'll help you with your small scale missions to capture more youkai, but I will not build you another army until you have enough magical power to use."

"I already have the clones of them. If you made them, then surely..."

"I am not making you clones! They know themselves perfectly well, and could defeat themselves as such. Or did you really think an army of ice fairies would be intimidating?"

"No, Lady Tiara. But there's my other project..."

"That, so far, has also produced no results. You made some unstable models before. From what I heard, one had a mental breakdown before being killed. You need to make them more stable, in both mind and body, before I will start cloning them for you. I don't need a bunch of powerful youkai walking around, ready to snap at any second!"

"Yes, my lady."

"Do you finally understand, that you cannot win with your technology alone?"

"I understand. I won't be able to achieve victory until I learn to add their magic to my technology in a harmonious, efficient manner."

"Good. See to it that your actions follow this understanding. Now then, is there anything else you would like to discuss with me?"

"Not at this time."

"Fine. One more thing, why did you gather another fire user? An elemental ability does not change from person to person. The difference is in skill. That's the only difference."

"It is that skill I wish to use, to give the production units proper knowledge on the use of their abilities. Abilities with no talent in their use are worthless, are they not?"

"Fine, do as you wish, then. Just make sure to dispose of that youkai when you're done. I don't need anyone telling Yukari where we are. You should consider yourself lucky we've fooled Yukari this long. The moment she recognized my ability is the moment this ends."

"I'm aware. There is no way she could know. As far as she knows, I have advanced cloning technology at my disposal."

"Make sure it stays that way. As much as I would like to defeat Yukari, I want to make sure I'm able to do so. I do not wish to be sealed in this place again."

"I would just break the seal again."

"She would use a stronger seal, fool. Do not underestimate Yukari's intelligence. I'm done with you now. Get to work."

"As you wish, Lady Tiara," Jin states, while standing back up. He takes a bow before turning to leave.

"_Foolish woman, you have no idea what lies in store for you. Once I have my immortality, nothing will stand in my way of wiping out this land, and purging this world of filthy beings that go against nature. I'll be sure to take my time when I finally kill you,"_ Jin thinks to himself, a twisted grin spreading across his face at the thought of what he plans to do with Tiara.

Jin makes his way to the holding cell where Mokou was placed. The device that was on Mokou was removed. The chamber itself servs as a larger version of it, sending pulses all throughout Mokou's body to keep her in a constant state of pain. Mokou appears to be unconscious, as she was when she was brought in.

"You can drop the act. I know you've been awake the entire time. There's no way you could just sleep through the pain going through your body. If you could relax that much, you would have already tried to escape," Jin states. Mokou doesn't respond. Jin plants a mobile version of the pain causing device on Mokou before turning off the pain device and taking Mokou from the chamber. Jin places her on a hospital bed-cart, and takes her to one if his labs. Upon arriving, Jin places Mokou on the table in the middle of the room. He puts on restraints to keep Mokou from moving, before activating a pain causing device built into the table. Jin removes the mobile version, all while Mokou continues to appear to sleep.

"I grow tired of watching you stare like this. Answer me, or else," Jin states. Mokou continues to do nothing. Jin pulls out a sword and jambs it straight into Mokou's side, pulling it up to Mokou's arm. Mokou winces in pain as a result.

"You moved, now drop the act!" Jin shouts.

"What's a matter, don't like it when I just sit here? I won't give you the satisfaction!" Mokou shouts.

"You'll give me what I want, and plenty of it!" Jin shouts, before jamming a knife in Mokou's throat. The immortal coughs and chokes on blood for several minutes before she "dies." Jin pulls out his weapons, waiting the few minutes it takes for Mokou's injuries to heal. Mokou goes back to feigning sleep, prompting Jin to plant a dagger into her eye, not going deep enough to kill Mokou.

"Gah!" shouts Mokou.

"That's much better," Jin replies, before Mokou spits on Jin's arm.

"Oh, so that's how it is, hm? I wonder..." Jin mutters, while pulling the knife out of Mokou's eye. The injury heals again, Mokou still trying her act.

"Okay, sleeping beauty, sleep through this!" Jin shouts, before sending a sword up and through her personal area.

"Ahh!" Mokou screams from the immense pain, reeling as Jin tears apart her reproductive system with his blade.

"Oh, not tired anymore?" Jin asks.

"When I get out of here, I'll kill you!" Mokou shouts.

"You'll kill me, will you? Like this maybe?" Jin asks, as he uses his new proficiency with fire to heat his sword up to being red hot, all while still inside of Mokou. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air along with Mokou's screams. Jin finally rips the sword out of her gut, leaving a trail of burnt organs behind. Some of them spilled onto the floor, along with burnt blood. After several minutes, Mokou's injuries heal again. She no longer tried her act, instead, struggling to get herself free.

"Oh my, trying hard, now, aren't we? You won't break through those. You're not strong enough, and that device doubles as a magic inhibitor, disrupting your ability to use any kind of magic. Can't have you trying to act out those threats of yours, now, can I?" Jin asks.

"Mokou spits on Jin again, trying to get him angry enough to cut her in half, or severe her limbs, allowing her to regenerate free of the restraints.

"Come on! Why don't you just cut my head off, huh? See what this immortality of mine is worth, right? Right! You want to, don't you? You coward! If you were a real man, you wouldn't try to tie me down, you'd fight me head on!"

"I'm not a coward, freak. Not by a long shot. I'll be more than happy to honor your request, after I'm done getting the elixir out of you, and ravishing you in every way imaginable!" Jin shots, before smashing Mokou's head open with a hammer he had laying out. Mokou's head returns after a few minutes, a look of scorn plastered on her face.

"So, you survive head shots, too, huh?" Jin asks.

"The only way to kill me is to cut my head off. Why don't you try it and see what happens?" Mokou asks.

"And have you regenerate on the floor? I'm not interested. Now then, I believe that little rabbit told me I need your liver. You don't mind, do you? You're immortal, after all, I don't think you need it," Jin states, while grabbing surgical knives and cutting Mokou open, ripping out what he needed, all while Mokou was still awake, yelling and screaming in pain.

"Oh, now, it's not so bad," Jin replies, before freezing Mokou's heart into a block of ice, while burning her lungs. Jin broke into laughter at his continuing torture of Mokou, enjoying the prospects of being able to survive anything.

Genichiro is making his way through the snow covered lands of the northern mountains in Gensokyo. Genichiro is keeping an eye on the computer screen on his wrist, noting he is getting close to the Northern Hakurei Shrine. As he continues his approach, he sees a small fight taking place up ahead. Genichiro uses the optical camouflage he learned Nitori installed in the armor, and watches from the distance. He sees a group of ten armored men are fighting a youkai. The youkai has short, curly lavender hair and matching eyes. She is wearing a blue-violet and white dress. The skirt goes down to her knees, a pair of white pants underneath, reaching down to her ankle. She has on white boots with white socks, a white cap, a translucent cape, and a golden lapel resembling the alchemist symbol for silver.

"Looks like she could use some help," Genichiro mutters to himself, also seeing a chance to get the needed part for his armor. Genichiro continues to watch the fight, waiting for his chance to grab one of the armored men. The youkai finds herself outmatched, and tries to flee, prompting one of the armored men to chase after her.

"_Perfect! Now's my chance! Just lead him out of view of the others!"_ Genichiro thinks to himself as the youkai flies overhead. The armored man follows, with Genichiro in pursuit. The pair continue well out of the sight of the others. The youkai stops, ready to attack the armored man full force with the trap she set, only to be surprised at seeing Genichiro appear suddenly after deactivating his optical camouflage. Genichiro fires at the man before he can figure out what's happening, sending him crashing into the ground. Genichiro approaches the youkai, who is ready to do the same to him.

"Stop, I'm on your side!" Genichiro shouts, before pulling off his helmet. His white hair and ears give him away as a youkai.

"A youkai? What are you doing here, and why are you dressed like them? Better yet, what all is going on!" the youkai shouts.

"Hold on a moment," Genichiro replies, while looking over the pieces of armor thrown about. Genichiro finds the part of the arm he needs, taking the the ID chip out, and placing it within his own armor. The suit recognizes the chip, and adjusts to match its current designation.

"Perfect! Okay, to start, my name is Ookami Genichiro. If memory serves, you would be Letty Whiterock," Genichiro states.

"I don't recall meeting you before," Letty replies.

"You haven't. I'll explain the details later. I'll give you the quick version of what all is going on," Genichiro answers. Genichiro goes over what all is happening, leading up to Yukari's current plan to sniff out Jin and rescue Mokou.

"They got to the shrine and released her? That shouldn't be possible. If they did, it would have triggered the alarm Yukari set on the sealing barrier," Letty replies.

"Well, they managed to do it without tripping the alarm. Don't ask me how, Yukari didn't mention anything about this sealing barrier you're speaking of. I have to get going, in order to avoid raising suspicion. I'll just tell them you got away. You know this place better than 'us,' so it would make sense. Yukari's group should be here soon. You should meet up with them. If you see anymore of your people, feel free to let them join in, but try to keep things down until Yukari gives the signal to start," Genichiro states.

"Alright, Genichiro. Be careful," Letty replies.

"I promised a special someone I'd come out of this just fine. I'm not about to make myself become a liar now," Genichiro replies, while replacing his helmet and jetting off, making sure to only use his foot jets. Letty flies off to the south, making sure to stay close to the mountains and avoid being seen. Genichiro joins the group of armored men from before.

"Three-six-one, where is she?" asks the leader of the group.

"She got away. She must have used some kind of hidden passage we don't know about as of yet," Genichiro replies, making sure to memorize his new "name."

"Were you able to get a sample?" the commander asks.

"No, she used some kind of a ability to throw up a snow barrier. I couldn't even find her with infrared," Genichiro replies.

"Figures one of them would know such a trick. It's of no consequence. We've gathered a couple of them already. Losing one won't hurt us. Let's get back," the commander states, leading the group back to the base.

"_This is just too easy. And with that optical camouflage Nitori put in, I should be able to move around, assuming they don't use infrared to track me," _Genichiro thinks to himself as he follows the men. Genichiro notes several gun encampments in the small valley leading up to the shrine grounds. The shrine itself is marked with a torii. The main shrine building and storehouse look identical to those of Reimu's shrine. Off in the distance, the barrier can be seen shining. There are more gun encampments and other military buildings. Genichiro assumes they are also part of the defense, most likely shield generators. Just past the shrine is a valley, followed by a mountain with large steel door. The door itself is usually hidden, revealing itself from it's rocky covering moments before the men arrived. The group enters the base and separates, presumably heading off to where they are needed.

"_So they don't get debriefed, or anything? Strange. Then again, if they are monitored heavily, I suppose it wouldn't be necessary. Hopefully they won't suspect me. Better give Yukari the signal to start the countdown,"_ Genichiro thinks to himself, while punching in a text message for Yukari.

A few miles south from where Genichiro ran into Letty, Yukari has everyone set, waiting for word from Genichiro.

"Geez, this is just like that winter incident, ze," Marisa states.

"It's not that cold," Remilia replies, "How much longer is this going to take?"

"Patience, dear, it's not like he can just run in there," Yukari replies. Yukari suddenly feels a vibration coming from her dress. The youkai pulls out her cell phone, seeing the message from Genichiro.

"Oh, so he made it in. Good, good. It is part of the shrine, that's good. Hmm, there's defenses all over the place, and what he believes to be shield generators. I expected as much. He'll try to disable them, but not before getting Mokou and the start of our attack. Perfect, that works just fine," Yukari states.

"Where did you get that?" Marisa asks.

"And electronics store on the Outside. Don't worry about the details. If you want one, you should go to that shop," Yukari replies.

"Yeah, sure. Hm? Oh look, something winter left behind," Marisa replies, while pointing out to the skies.

Half of the group ready themselves for a fight as Letty approaches the group. She spots them and lands nearby, getting an eye roll from Reimu and stare from Marisa.

"Winter come early this year?" Reimu asks.

"This is where I live during the rest of the year. I can talk about that later, though. Lady Yukari, it would seem you have a couple of problems that need solving. One is that faulty barrier seal, the other is who broke it," Letty states.

"So the alarm didn't go off? I'm not surprised, though. He must have anticipated this; probably opened the barrier in a way that didn't break it. Even now, I can still sense it, so it was never taken down," Yukari replies.

"And yet you're sure Tiara is free?" Letty asks.

"They've been using her ability to make armies. Eirin has verified this. No technology could make perfect clones, but Tiara's ability can do so easily," Yukari replies.

"Eirin? I've heard of you before, but I've never met you. I haven't met most of you, actually," Letty states.

Everyone makes their introductions, complete with Reimu and Marisa recounting their encounter while Genichiro makes his was around Jin's base. Genichiro notes it has the same polished steel interior the Misty Lake Base had, complete with the bright lighting. Genichiro looks through the small computer on his armor, finding a map of the complex within. He notices there are several spots missing from his map.

"_Guess they can't make it too easy. Probably have it set so that only the areas this guy frequents are accessible. Too bad I can't pull out that ID chip now. Doubt it would matter, since this appears to be accessing the base computer system, anyway," _Genichiro thinks to himself as he makes his way down the corridor. Once out of the view of all the cameras, Genichiro activates his optical camouflage and continues along the corridor. On his way to the elevator, Genichiro notes one of Jin's clones wearing a lab coat, walking towards one of the elevators. Genichiro joins the man in the elevator, hoping he's headed for somewhere he needs to go.

"Those combat drones still need so much work, I doubt we'll ever get them finished," the man mutters out loud, while reading over some papers attached to a clipboard in his hand.

"Attention, unauthorized personnel must leave on this level," comes a feminine computer voice from the elevator.

"Unauthorized personnel? What is this thing going on about? I'm the only one here," the scientist grumbles. He enters in an override code, resulting in the doors shutting and the elevator continuing on it's way down. The elevator arrives at its destination, with Genichiro following the scientist out. The scientist enters a room filled with multiple computers on one end, and tubes full of green liquid on the other. Each tube has a monitor and small computer pad with it. Within the tubes appears to be a young girl, presumably a youkai. The green liquid makes it impossible to determine much else.

"_Are these the drone's he was walking about? As bothersome as this is, I need to find Mokou. Now I have to wait for one of them to leave the room,"_ Genichiro thinks to himself. At that moment, another scientist enters. Those he is also another clone, his lab coat has several rank insignia that denote his higher level of importance.

"S-one-six, status report," the newcomer asks. His rank indicates his designation is S-zero-one.

"Same as before, sir. Still having problems with the personalities clashing. We're continuing to isolate each personality to see how each interact with the others on its own. So far, no one personality stands out as problematic," S-one-six, the scientist Genichiro followed, replies.

"Very well. Continue your work as planned," S-zero-one states, before leaving. Genichiro follows him out. S-zero-one heads for another room. Within is Mokou, with a sword jabbed into her heart, still bleeding profusely. Mokou's clothes are both torn and bloodstained. Behind Mokou is a small, currently open safe, with a jar marked "hourai." S-zero-one looks the jar and it's contents over, checking something on a computer in front of him.

"It's complete. That should take care of it. With this, we can make as much as we want," S-zero-one states out loud, hoping to get a reaction from the badly injured Mokou. She makes no movement as he places the jar back into the safe. After shutting it, he locks it with a code that Genichiro makes sure to memorize.

"_Good, this must mean no one has consumed it yet. This takes care of two birds with one stone! Now, I just have to wait for him to leave, give Yukari fifteen more minutes, then get her and the elixir out of here," _Genichiro thinks to himself.

Back with Yukari's group, Yukari notes her countdown timer on her phone is down to the last few minutes.

"Alright, it's time to move, everyone. Follow me, now. Don't want anyone getting lost. As soon as you see one of those bothersome machines..."

"Feel free to blast it, ze?" Marisa asks, cutting off Yukari.

"Yes, as you would put it, 'it's time to blast our way in there, da ze,'" Yukari states.

"Huh? 'Da ze?' I don't say that!" Marisa shouts.

Everyone present rolls their eyes at Marisa, but no one says anything.

"Never mind, let's just go," Remilia states.

"Yeah! Let's go get Gen-kun, and punish this Tiara person!" Flandre shouts.

"She is so getting it when I get to her!" Reimu shouts.

"I'll be taking care of her; you're free to decide who gets to take care of that man. I don't care which of you does it, just make sure he doesn't escape," Yukari replies.

"He's mine!" Remilia shouts.

"Not if I get him first, ze!" Marisa shouts.

The two prepare to jet off before Yukari makes a barrier in front of them, resulting in the pair crashing into it and falling to the ground.

"No rushing when you don't know where you're rushing to, please," Yukari states, before leading the group out. The group follow Yukari down the valley, quickly seeing the gun encampments lining the trench between the mountains.

"Alright! Fun time!" Marisa shouts, while pulling out her Mini-Hakkero.

"Love Sign 'Master Spark!'" Marisa shouts, before her trademark laser blasts one of the gun encampments to pieces.

At the base, alarms go off as the gun placement is destroyed, gathering the attention of all those keeping an eye on the area.

"Is it another random youkai?" asks a commander.

"Let's see... what the..." a man looking at a monitor states.

"Out with it. What is it?" asks the commander.

"It's the gap youkai, and several others are with her!" the man shouts.

"Y-yukari? Yukari! Condition red! Alert level five! Dispatch all intercept squads immediately!" the commander shouts.

In another section of the base, Jin notes the alarms going off, followed by the announcement of the alert level from the defense commander.

"Alert level five? Zero-three-zero, what is going on?" Jin asks into a communication panel.

"Sir, the gap youkai and a group of others, including the Hakurei maiden, are assaulting the base!" Zero-three-zero shouts.

"What! Impossible! Raise the shields, prepare all available defenses at once!" Jin shouts, before punching the com panel, causing it to spark.

"_How can this be! She shouldn't know where we are! And I was so close to finishing!"_ Jin thinks to himself.

In the shrine building, Tiara notes all the alarms going off, and opts to listen in on Jin's conversation with Zero-three-zero, hearing of Yukari's approach.

"So, they can't get here, huh? Will never figure it out, right? This is why you don't trust a human to do a youkai's job! If you want something done right, you do it yourself!" Tiara shouts, while gathering a small machine for her person and her set of spell cards.

"Alright Yukari, it's time for our reunion!" Tiara shouts, before making her way for the shrine's exit.

In the labs below the base, Genichiro hears the alarms sound, smiling at knowing Yukari has started. Genichiro disengages his optical camouflage in front of Mokou, getting a startled reaction out of her. Genichiro pulls the sword out of Mokou, and releases the locks holding her in place. Mokou nearly obliterates Genichiro, until he takes his helmet off.

"Eh? You're not one of them," Mokou states.

"Yeah, Nitori made this for me. We figured we ought to come and bust you out of here. We need to get rid of this, too," Genichiro replies, while walking over to the safe. He enters in the code and opens it, retrieving the jar from inside.

"You didn't see anyone drink this, right?" Genichiro asks.

"No, I don't believe so, but I've been out of if for a while," Mokou replies, before tripping and falling down, prompting Genichiro to help her back up.

"What did they do to you?"

"What didn't they do to me. I don't care at this point. I've felt just about every pain I can imagine, and a few I couldn't. And when I'm done with that man, he's going to be happy to die."

"Fair enough. Have any ideas for what we should do about this?"

"That? That's the elixir? From what I can tell, the elixir is as immortal as the effect it grants, seeing as that emperor tried to have a group dispose of it by throwing it into a volcano. I got a better idea, though," Mokou answers, while opening up the jar, and then downing the contents.

"Yeah, still tastes like crap, I guess they got it right," Mokou states.

"Just like that?" Genichiro asks.

"You have a better idea?"

"Not really," Genichiro replies as he takes the jar, and puts it back in the safe.

"If that doesn't make them mad, I don't know what will," Genichiro says.

"I can think of something worse," Mokou replies, as she gathers fire into her hands.

An explosion rocks the lab section, setting off further alarms within the base.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" the computer alarm shouts, prompting Jin to look at a computer monitor nearby. He sees the section where the "intruder" is in red, noting it's the lab where Mokou was imprisoned.

"What! How did she escape!" Jin shouts, looking at those in the area. He notes Three-six-one is at the location, still alive.

"Three-six-one! Three-six-one, this is commander Hiodoshi, respond!" Jin shouts.

"This is Three-six-one, Mokou has escaped, preparing to engage," "Three-six-one" replies.

"Engage with caution... wait, why are you on that level? You do not have clearance to be there!" Jin shouts.

"Uh, I do, sir?" "Three-six-one" replies, before communication quickly ends. Jin notes the death of "Three-six-one."

"I don't know who you are, but you're dead!" Jin shouts, as he realizes what's going on. He puts on his armor suit, rushing down to the lab level.

On the lab level, Mokou and Genichiro make their way out of the ruined room, debris and small fires lining the hallway.

"Looks like we're about to have some company," Genichiro states, a crushed ID chip in his hand. His armor continues to work, due to Nitori's enhancements.

"At least I have a full map of the place now. We're six levels down, and the elevator is locked," Genichiro states.

"Thanks for the tip. You find your way out that way, I'm going this way. First one to get that Jin guy gets to kill him," Mokou replies.

"We should stick together; it's all for naught if he captures you again."

"He got me with a cheap trick last time; I won't fall for it again. Besides, you told me about finding a way to turn off the barrier around this place before I blew that room up, right? More people looking, the better. I don't know about these computers and machines, like you do, but I know smashing them makes them stop working."

"Alright, but be careful. You actually got Kaguya worrying about you; she's outside with Yukari's group."

"Didn't know she cared. I guess I'll give her a quick death next time as thanks," Mokou replies, before blowing a hole in the ceiling and flying up through it.

"_Not exactly subtle, is she? Doesn't matter, I need to get out of here, too,"_ Genichiro thinks to himself, as he makes his way down to the corridor. Genichiro makes his way to another locked elevator, but finds an emergency stair well next to it, also locked. Genichiro pulls out his sword, and carves the door to the stair up, only to come face to face with Jin on the other side of the door.

"Oh, a Tengu's sword, huh? I see, I didn't expect you Youkai freaks to come up with something so cunning," Jin states, before knocking a surprised Genichiro down the hallway, hitting him hard enough to knock off his helmet.

"Ah, I see. It's you again, Genichiro, right?" Jin asks.

"What? Been spying on me, have you?" Genichiro replies.

"Oh, bad memory, huh? If you can't remember, here's a hint. I've already killed you before. Twice.

"Twice? That's impossible, no human could live that long!"

"Are you so sure? Maybe I should remind you, by doing it a third time. This time, I'm going to make sure you're dead for good!" Jin shouts, as he charges after Genichiro, taking advantage of him still recovering from his previous hit. Jin approaches with his beam sword withdrawn, ready to cut off Genichiro's head.

"Kya!" shouts Genichiro, his voice echoing through the corridor.


	14. Showdown

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 14 – Showdown**

"This time, I'm going to make sure you're dead for good!" shouts Jin, as he charges after Genichiro, taking advantage of him still recovering from his previous hit. Jin approaches with his beam sword withdrawn, ready to cut off Genichiro's head.

"Kya!" shouts Genichiro, his voice echoing through the corridor.

On the floor above, Mokou is destroying everything in her path on her way out of the base.

"Get her! Get her!" shouts the leader of a group of four armored men.

"You know, I was willing to play nice before, not going after killing anyone," Mokou states while dodging a small barrage of blue sphere danmaku, "Unfortunately for you, your boss made me change my mind!"

Mokou forms a ball of fire around her hands before firing it off at each of the armored men before her. The narrow corridor gives the men little room to dodge, each taking a direct hit and being taken out by the shots. A pair of armored men attempt to sneak up on Mokou, only to find themselves blasted by a pair of fireballs being shot from the Phoenix wings Mokou summons upon sensing their attempt.

"You guys need to better understand how to observe your surroundings if you hope to best someone like me. I can tell you now, your cheap little traps aren't going to work against me a second time," Mokou says while walking down the corridor, firing off shots of fire danmaku at anyone she sees, whether it be an armored man or one of the scientists. Mokou's charge down the corridor leads her to one of control rooms for the bases defenses.

"Sir, one of the intruders is attempting to get in!" shouts one of the men in the room.

"How much longer will the emergency door hold?" the leader asks.

An explosion offers up the answers the leader seeks, with Mokou rushing in and grabbing the group leader by his throat.

"Looks like I found something important. So, know anything about turning off these shield things you have around the base?" Mokou asks.

"C-can't say I do," the leader replies.

"Don't lie to me. I can tell when you're lying; over the 1300 years I've lived for, no one has yet to invent a new way to lie. Now, you mind turning off all that crap so my friends can get in?" Mokou asks.

The leader nods while looking at the other men in the room who quickly being accessing the controls to the weapons and shields. Mokou smiles, thinking she accomplished her goal, until she notices the smile forming on the leader's face. Before Mokou can act, the group of men finish the task they are working on.

"What did you just do?" Mokou asks.

"I had them lock out all the controls to the defenses. Even if you kill us, there's no way to get the weapons and shields to shut down," the leader replies.

"We'll see about that," Mokou states, while gathering fire to her left hand, and blasting all of the computer consoles in the room, resulting in sparks and debris couples with small explosions erupting throughout the room. The men working the computers attempt to duck through Mokou's shots, but most of them are taken out. Only a few remain, all holding close to the floor of the now smoke filled room.

"Now there's nothing we can do, or did you really think doing that would shut down everything?" the leader asks.

"Worth a shot; smashing things helps sometimes, you know," Mokou replies, before tossing the man down on the ground. Mokou points her hand at the man, ready to incinerate him in her fire danmaku.

"Now then, is there any other way to shut down the defenses?" Mokou asks.

"There isn't!" the leaders shouts, his response earning him a fireball to the face.

"Anyone in here want to be a little more forthcoming?" Mokou asks.

"There are several sub control rooms located throughout the complex. You can stop them there, now please don't kill me!" one of the other men shouts.

"Oh? Hm, and you're not lying, either. Amazing what a little death threat can do to loosen the tongue," Mokou states, while leaving the room.

The man and the other few survivors make pick themselves up, making their way to the one functioning communication panel left in the room. Just as they are about to tell everyone where Mokou is, Mokou throws another round of fireball danmaku into the room, wiping out the last remaining survivors.

"And to think I was going to leave them be. I guess it's my fault for trying to be generous," Mokou remarks to herself as she blows another hole in the ceiling above her, making her way onto the second floor of the base.

Outside the perimeter of the complex, the group with Yukari finally arrive at the start of the shielding, with Yukari attempting to break through it with her ability while the others attempt to break through it by force.

"Love Sign 'Master Spark!'" Marisa shouts.

"Shikigami's Radiance 'Fox-Tanuki Youkai Laser!'" Ran shouts.

"Kyuu!" Flandre shouts.

An explosions erupts from where the shield barrier is hit, causing it to flicker, but still hold in place. In response to the constant attacks, a swarm of a hundred armored men emerge from the skies above, raining down a mass barrage of blue sphere danmaku.

"Here they come!" Reimu shouts, while taking to the skies after the armored men.

"Marisa, Flandre, Ran, stay with me, everyone else, give us some cover while we try to break through this!" Yukari shouts.

"I was beginning to think they wouldn't try to make this interesting," Remilia states, while holding up one of her danmaku spears. She hurls it through a line of the armored men, taking a row of them down instantly.

"Nice aiming, mistress," Sakuya comments, while throwing out her knives at those looking to target the head mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Illusion Sign 'Indiscriminate!'" Sakuya shouts. Sakuya gathers a mass number of her daggers upon her person, before sending them out in all directions around her, wiping out the group of armored men closest to her and her mistress, while at the same time taking out a few of the armored men going after Yukari, Ran, Marisa, and Flandre.

"Water and Wood Sign 'Water Elf!'" Patchouli states. Patchouli fires off a radial barrage of sphere danmaku, ranging from smaller, blue sphere danmaku, to more moderate sized green sphere danmaku to large sized yellow sphere danmaku. The center of the bursts follow Patchouli as she moved back and forth near the group attempting to break through the shielding. The armored men nearest to Patchouli are taken down during the course of Patchouli's spell. A few see the pattern and attempt to go after Patchouli herself, only to end up being knocked out of the sky by a punch from Meiling.

"None of you will lay a hand on Miss Patchouli!" Meiling shouts, while knocking down the armored men who are able to work around Patchouli's spell.

"Child Sign 'Dharmapala's Rampage!'" Chen shouts, while rushing into the swarm of armored men. Following her declaration, Chen curls herself up into a ball and starts zipping through the air. As she moves, she fires out bursts of blue arrow danmaku on one path, bursts of red arrow danmaku while on another path, and bursts of yellow arrow danmaku while following another path. Chen pauses after her third path, and fires out a burst of orange arrow danmaku above her, before resuming her runs in the sky. Through each cycle through the spell, Chen's paths cease being straight, with Chen taking turns while in the middle of one of her strikes, giving her spell the appearance of a child's tantrum. The changing paths Chen make take several of the armored men by surprise, the group assuming Chen was going to keep going straight. Those not paying attention to Chen found themselves being plowed through by Chen herself.

"Mystic Sign 'Table Turning!'" Letty shouts. Letty's spell summons a pair of wispy snakes before her. The pair of danmaku snakes fly quickly through the air around Letty, firing off quick bursts of blue arrow danmaku around along their path. The bursts of arrow danmaku follow the direction of the snakes at the time they were fired off. After flying around Letty for a few rounds, the snakes themselves fly off into the crowd of armored men, to be replaced by another pair. The armored men quickly adapt to the mass barrage of arrow danmaku, but find themselves caught off guard when the snakes come after them. Each pair of snakes take out a pair of the armored men throughout Letty's spell, the armored men being unable to see the snakes coming for them while they are trying to avoiding being struck by the field of arrow danmaku.

"Unseasonable Butterfly Storm!" Wriggle shouts, while heading out into the skies. Once she's in the middle of a group of the armored men, she lets forth a massive wave of red butterfly danmaku streams, each of the streams moving in a counterclockwise arc. One the red butterfly stream ends, a blue butterfly danmaku stream replaces it, the blue streams arching clockwise. The red and blue butterfly danmaku streams continue to alternate while Wriggle fires out waves of small, while sphere danmaku. The spheres bear a resemblance to insect eggs as they float about, before bursting into fast moving fields of yellow and green butterfly danmaku, the yellow and green fields alternating with each other with a small break after the green bursts. The armored men near Wriggle are taken out immediately, while those further away attempt to break Wriggle's spell. Other armored men are taken by surprise by the yellow and green butterfly danmaku, not seeing them through the waves of the red and blue butterfly danmaku.

The stray danmaku from the summoned spell cards also strike at the shield barrier Yukari, Ran, Flandre, and Marisa are trying to break. As the spells build up and add to the strikes from Yukari's team, the shield starts to flicker violently before finally breaking.

"The barrier is broken, let's continue!" Yukari shouts before heading down the valley once again. The others follow, with the armored men at their backs.

In the corridor of the detention level of the base, Jin is backing away from Genichiro, a cut going across the visor of his helmet, Genichiro himself holding his sword out.

"Almost had me there," Jin replies, before removing his now useless helmet.

"Piece of junk," Jin remarks, as he tosses it down the hallway. Genichiro looks on in disbelief at Jin, taking note of the scar running down the left side of his face and the missing part of his ear.

"Sen... Kario..." Genichiro states in shock.

"Ho, so you do remember me, don't you?" Jin, now revealed to be Kario, replies.

"That's impossible! It was centuries ago the last time we met! You couldn't have killed me once, let alone twice!" Genichiro shouts.

"Ha ha ha, so you really are so closed minded, are you? Come on, say it, I know you want to. What's that question on your mind?"

"Grr, you are a youkai, aren't you?"

"Ah, I knew it. Now you're thinking, but you're wrong, so sorry."

"So what then, you going to tell me your some centuries old android? An alien of some kind? You can't be a human."

"Wrong, wrong, and wrong. Well, I suppose I may as well just come out and say it. I am human, and I have lived for a thousand years."

"That's impossible. No human can live that long!"

"No, one human. Me. Tell me, do you know what it means to be biologically immortal?"

"I am familiar with the term. It means one who will never die of old age, but can still be killed by external means. To the best of my knowledge, only some species of jellyfish have this trait. Are you trying to tell me you're a human with this trait?"

"That's correct. Indeed, that is what I am. A human who will never die of age, one who could live for all time, but still end one's life if it became too boring. Yes, that's exactly what I am."

"Alright, let's say I believe that, as opposed to someone being foolish enough to resurrect you, why do you say you've killed me twice?"

"A very good question. I suppose you only remember the time when I had you burned alive in that village, right?"

"You? It was Akano's father who decided it. He was the one who captured me."

"Oh, he did capture you. At my behest, of course."

"What!"

"You see, I happened to be a friend of his. I suspected his daughter of being a youkai, so I came to know him. I initially had planned on just getting to him to get to his daughter, but when I learned my information was inaccurate, we just stayed as friends of a sort. Then one day, he comes to me. Tells me that his daughter is engaged to a youkai. You know, he was actually going to let her marry you, deciding it was best for her to be happy. I, on the other hand, would not allow such a thing to happen. To marry a human, to produce an abomination, a half-breed. I couldn't allow such a travesty to take place, so I told him to help me kill you. It took some convincing, but once I had him believing you would end up using her to produce offspring and destroy the village, he went along with my plan."

"So I have you to blame for that, huh? Alright, before I kill you, enlighten me as to how you killed me twice."

"Oh, that's a fun one. Let's see, about seven hundred years ago, right? Must have been one of your first lives, yes?"

"Yeah, my first."

"Oh, good, good. Well, right around then, I had grown tired of living. I had already lived for a little over three hundred years. I was tired of it wall. Watching my friends die, my family. I buried all of my children, as none of them came to possess my ability. I decided I wanted to end it all, so, I went out of my way to find and fight the strongest youkai of the area I lived in, challenging them all, hoping one would finally kill me. And yet, I always won. It was as though my will to live just wouldn't leave me. In time, I rallied a village to join me in my hunts, taking on youkai after youkai. It got to the point where the youkai feared us, never coming near the village. And then, one day, I learn of another youkai, a very powerful one. She had attacked my people, but they were able to escape. They told me the name of the youkai, Yamihono Rumia."

"Yamihono Rumia of the darkness!"

"Yes, that Rumia. I decided to go after her myself. Surely someone so strong could pose to me enough of a challenge. I found her home in the nearby forest, destroying it to get her attention. And when she arrived, I attacked her, before she even knew what was happening. I was beginning to think it was too easy, until she fought back. We fought for over an hour, Rumia not once backing down or wearing out. I, however, was wearing out. Fatigue had set in, I was making more mistakes, my attacks getting more sloppy and unrefined. I was fortunate she was unable to take advantage of this. And then, right when I'm about to resume my attack, I slip on a piece of debris from her destroyed him, and she gave me this nice little scare up the side of my head. I fell to the ground in pain, no longer able to stand from a combination of pain and fatigue. She sees me fall, and goes in for the kill, so I got her with my sword, running her straight through. She drops her weapon, stepping back in pain. I take her sword, and cut her head off before she can respond. Her weapon burnt me hand severely, but it was better than dying. Of course, I knew this wasn't good enough. Youkai almost always come back, unless they magic composing them has been disrupted, so I set her ablaze with my youkai death spell, dispelling the very magic that made up her being."

"_What is this? Youkai don't die right away? Then why did I always die... unless... it can't be."_

"It seems you understand from that look on your face. Yes, I realized at the point I was not meant to die, that it was my mission in life to kill all the youkai of the world and bring forth a pure land free of the beings. And so, I went from a defensive position to a more active one, killing all youkai in the area, leading groups of men into youkai settlements and killing them all. And then I met you one night, on my way back from one of my hunts. I couldn't just let you be, after all, so we killed you on the spot. Imagine my surprise when I heard you were alive three hundred years later! I thought I had messed up my spell, so I made sure to perform it to the letter this time, and thought for sure you had died. It amazes me how I failed to kill you twice."

"So that's what it was. It was dark that first time, so I just didn't see you. No wonder I recognized your scent that day. I just waived it off, thinking I was hallucinating at the end of my life. And that spell... I always thought a youkai died like a human. I was only a full youkai three times in my existence, my first life, the other time you killed me, and this life. If I didn't turn in full, I would die as a human. At least I don't have to worry about dying so easily this time."

"So you did die, but how, then? Why are you still alive?"

"If you must know, energy manipulation. When my body is destroyed, I form an energy shell from my surroundings. Your spell provided a nice little energy boost for me. No wonder that shell was so resilient. Anyway, each time that happened, I would reincarnate myself into the nearest pregnant female. Must make you mad knowing I can't be killed, doesn't it?"

"I see. Fine, fine, if that's how it is. I can kill you again and again. By the time you're old enough to do anything about it, I'll have already won. I'll just have to imprison you next time, or something. For now, I'll just kill you!" Kario shouts, as he draws his sword once more.

"No, this time, it ends for you!" Genichiro shouts, pulling his sword forward. The two rush at each other, the sound of weapons hitting echoes down the corridor.

Mokou continues her rampage through the base, tearing through walls and destroying everything in her path. In a fire and debris filled corridor on the second level of the base, armored men are running around in desperation, trying to throw anything they can at Mokou.

"Did you guys just stop trying, or something?" Mokou asks, before filling the corridor with fireball danmaku. Most of the men attacking Mokou are taken out. A few of the scientists who were hit are running down the hall while on fire. The remaining armored men back off, attempting to regroup. Mokou sends out more fireball danmaku, making sure to drive them off.

"_They don't know how lucky they are that I'm not in the mood to chase them all down,"_ Mokou thinks to herself as she approaches a large, steel door.

"Is this the exit?" Mokou mutters to herself. The immortal blows the door open to find a large, wide open room, with two main levels. On the lower level lie tanks, while there are jets on the upper level.

"I remember these; they attacked us with these machines before. Hm, well, if they're here, there must be a way out nearby," Mokou rambles to herself, looking to where the vehicles are pointing.

"She's in the hanger! Stop her!" shouts one of the armored men chasing after Mokou.

"Oh, looks like I got their attention," Mokou says, while gathering fire elemental magic into her hands. Mokou fires off a quick barrage in the direction the shouting came from. With the more wide open room, many of the men in the path of Mokou's attack are able to get out of the way. Those still stuck in the corridor beyond are quickly taken out, an explosion erupting and collapsing what's left of the door frame from Mokou's entrance. Other armored men rush in from other parts of the hanger, all bent on striking down Mokou.

"Alright, maybe now that you have a little room, we can play a little harder, right? Let's see what you people do about this one," Mokou states, while pulling out a spell card.

"Hourai 'South Wind, Clear Sky -Fujiyama Volcano-!'" Mokou shouts. Mokou's phoenix wings emerge at the end of her declaration. Mokou fires off bursts of small, red sphere danmaku, in a radial pattern. This is followed by Mokou firing off fast bursts of directed red arrow danmaku at the first man in her sight. While she is targeting men with her arrow danmaku, the wings throw out several magic circles. After going a set distance, they erupt into a large, concentrated burst of large, red sphere danmaku. Mokou took out several of the armored men with her arrow danmaku. Many others were caught off guard by the magic circles, ending up being defeated by being too close to them. At the same time, Mokou's magic circles were targeting the tanks and jets in the hanger, blowing them to pieces when they burst. The debris kicks up and the fires from the remains of the vehicles further obscure Mokou's spell, helping to take down more of the armored men throughout the spell's duration. At the end, there were only a few left, with much of the hanger now in ruins.

"It's over! Get her! Now!" shouts an armored man, right before Mokou hits him with a burst of violet ofuda danmaku. Mokou takes out the majority of the remaining attackers with combination bursts of fireball danmaku and her ofuda danmaku, scaring off those who were left behind.

"Now then, to get out of here... hm... ah, sure, why not?" Mokou says aloud, as she makes her way into one of the jets that survived her rampage.

"Aright, let's see, I guess this starts it," Mokou mutters, activating the ignition.

"Yep, got that part right. Let's see, all of this is labeled. Oh, yeah, close the hatch, okay, that's done. Now, to get this thing up and moving.

Mokou managed to get the jet to hover, lifting off it's dock, and moving over towards a pair of massive, steel doors.

"That must be the way out... a shame that no one is around to open it. Let's see if the key this thing has will work... these 'missile' things sound interesting," Mokou states, before firing a missile at the door, blowing a large hole in it.

"I'd say that works! Not to get out of this place!" Mokou shouts, before punching the throttle, taking the jet out the opening she made.

The armored men were continuing to pursue Yukari's group, who were getting closer to the base. The number of gun placements increases, filling the valley leading up the base and shrine with all manner of danmaku bursts and lasers. Flandre is using her ability to destroy many of the guns, while Marisa keeps firing master sparks at them. The group finally run into another barrier, prompting Yukari to take Marisa, Flandre, and Ran to break through it.

"Everyone, cover us again!" Yukari shouts.

"Yeah, sure," Reimu replies, while blasting an armored man in front of her with a sealing needle.

"Migrating Spirit 'Fantasy Seal -Dark-!'" Reimu shouts. Reimu fires out a radial burst of large, white sphere danmaku. While firing off the field of danmaku, Reimu fires out a burst of ofuda danmaku that start out white, while moving to target nearby armored men. The bursts stop for a moment before turning red and moving after the armored men once again. The bursts pause a second time before turning violet and going after the armored men nearest to them. As the first burst Reimu fired turned violet, Reimu fires off another burst of ofuda danmaku, following the same pattern. The armored men are surprised when the ofuda stop moving, g a few of the more naïve amongst them to ignore them, only to be hit when the ofuda start to move again. A couple of the armored men avoid the ofuda, but run into one of the sphere danmaku, taking them down in the process. Some of the armored men back off from Reimu, forcing her ofuda to have a to travel a greater distance. The group assume moving further away would keep them out of range of the attacks, only to find the ofuda move faster the further they have to go. Reimu clears out most of the armored men around her before her spell ends.

"Hey Wriggle, I think I'll handle it this time. Might want to cover your ears," Mystia says, while reaching for one of her spell cards.

"Go for it, just remember not to hit me," Wriggle replies. Mystia gives a childish grin in response as she declares her card.

"Night Sparrow 'Midnight Chorus Master!'" Mystia shouts. After Mystia makes her declaration, she sings her song, causing the armored men around her to experience night blindness, losing sight of the space that's not immediately in front of them. The armored men keep steady to avoid crashing into one another. One of the armored men starts trying to fire blindly at Mystia, only to end up hitting one of the other armored men. Mystia then fires off rapid, radial streaming bursts of green sphere danmaku. The armored men with the fastest reflexes are able to avoid being hit, while the slower amongst them are taken out right away. Mystia adds streams of larger, turquoise sphere danmaku. The turquoise danmaku remain in place for a few moments as Mystia continues to fire off her bursts of the green danmaku. After a few moments, the turquoise danmaku change to blue and resume moving along the paths they were fired out along. A few of the armored men are taken out by the now blue danmaku as a result of assuming they were only there to serve as obstacles. Many more of the armored men are taken out, not being able to learn from the mistakes of the others due to lack of sight. The last of the armored men around Mystia are taken out just as her spell ends.

Nitori had ended up isolated near one of the gun placements she destroyed a moment ago, after noticing it was about to target Marisa and the rest of Yukari's group. The Kappa manages to avoid several bursts of human-sized blue sphere danmaku sent in her direction, prompting her to pull out one of her spell cards.

"Kappa 'Spin the Cephalic Plate!'" Nitori shouts. After making her declaration, Nitori fires out several rings of green danmaku around her. The rings spin around before expanding outward. As the first rings she sends out expand, Nitori fires off more. While firing the rings, Nitori fires out a stream of smaller, black-blue danmaku, aimed at the armored men in front of her. Most of the armored men are able to figure out the pattern of the rings, with a few being taken out by them. Those who figure out the rings don't expect to get hit with aimed bursts, with the armored men in the front of the group being taken out by them. The armored men try to split up from one another to make it more difficult for Nitori to target them, only to find Nitori is more than capable of matching up against them. Most of the armored men around Nitori are cleared out by the end of her spell, leaving her to take down the rest of the group around her with aimed burst of water drop danmaku.

Reisen and her clone move about one another, making sure to keep an eye on both Princess Kaguya and Yukari's group. The pair use telepathy to coordinate their attacks, effectively making it at though there is one person with two bodies. The clone Reisen nods as the original Reisen pulls out a spell card.

"Indolence 'Mind Stopper!'" Reisen shouts. At the end of the declaration, Reisen sends out familiars in a manner that resembles the corners of a box, with one familiar on the corner and three other familiars, one for each side of the box. The familiars fire out bursts of bullet danmaku of various, pastel colors. The bursts come out in a radial pattern, moving to assault anyone who stays in the middle of the box. After a few moments, Reisen flashes her eyes, resulting in the bullets appearing to stop and phase out. Reisen's eyes flash again, and the bullets resume their course. Right as the bullets start to move again, the familiars fire out directed streams at the armored men nearest to them. As the pattern spreads out past the boundary of the box, more bursts are fired out and the pattern repeats. At first, the armored men have trouble figuring out the amount of time the bullets are stopped. Many get the timing wrong, moving towards bullets they assumed were unmoving. A few of the armored men were taken out by the aimed bursts of danmaku. Those who figured out the pattern moved towards Reisen, preparing to fire once they were close enough for her to not be able to dodge. Reisen appeared to be holding still, not concerned with avoiding the armored men, leaving them to wonder at what is taking place, before the cloned Reisen appears and takes them out from behind, the spell resulting in many of them forgetting they were fighting against two people. The spell in combination with the ambush from Reisen's clone took out all the armored men around the pair of Lunar Rabbits, prompting them to stay closer to Yukari's group to give them more cover.

Kaguya and Eirin were back to back against the last major formation of armored men attacking everyone. The pair were alternating attacks, with one looking after one while the other took the offensive.

"Eirin, I believe it's time to end this," Kaguya states, while bringing forth the dragon's necklace.

"Impossible Request 'Dragon's Necklace -5 Colored Shots-!'" Kaguya shouts. At the end of her declaration, Kaguya summons a set of familiars to gather in front of her. Kaguya then fires off a streams of rainbow sphere danmaku. The pattern nearest to Kaguya is radial, but after a set distance from her bends and curves to bear resemblance to a flower. The familiars fire off streams of black, rainbow outlined, danmaku to either side of her. After traveling a set distance, the shots bounce back as rainbow danmaku in clustered streams. The armored men are able to handle the starting phase of the attack, making sure to stay away from the familiars and find the gaps in the pattern of the sphere danmaku. The armored men assume the familiars' shots are for hitting those close to Kaguya. The armored men are caught off guard when the shots from the familiars bounce back, forcing the armored men to quickly move. Many run into the streams Kaguya is firing, while others can't find a gap in Kaguya's streams and are hit by the familiars. A few of the men closer to Kaguya attempt to fire at her, only to see her familiars absorb the shots. Their surprise at this results in their being taken down. By the end of Kaguya's spell, most of the armored men attacking her have thinned out and scattered.

"Nice shooting, eh?" Kaguya asks, while bearing a smile.

Eirin gives a small smile while attacking the few remaining armored men around Kaguya and her.

Within a few moments, Yukari, Marisa, Ran, and Flandre break through shield barrier blocking the path.

"Let's keep going, ze!" Marisa shouts, while Yukari continues to lead the way down the valley. The others follow behind, with the remaining armored men trailing along behind them. Other armored men appear to join in the group, adding to those chasing the group of youkai and humans on their way to the base of the armored men. After traveling further down the valley, the ground rips apart, sending up a massive wall of earth up several miles into the sky, separating Yukari, Marisa, Ran, and Flandre from the others.

"What is that?" Flandre asks.

"It's a trap of some sort," Ran replies.

"Well, then, I can break through it! Kyuu!" Flandre shouts. An explosion follows, appearing to blow a hole in the massive earth wall. When the smoke and debris clear, however, the wall remains standing.

"A high level barrier spell," Ran states.

"I can take care of that," Yukari replies.

"Oh, why would you want to do that?" comes a voice from the sky. The owner of the voice is dressed in red and black, while holding a mirror composed of black glass.

"Tiara," Yukari states, facing her aggressor directly.

"Oh, so you do remember me after all this time. I suppose I should be flattered. Then again, what's a couple of centuries to those like us, right?" Tiara asks.

"So, is she an old hag, too?" Marisa asks.

"It would be wise not to anger her, Marisa," Ran replies.

"Oh, no, I don't take offense. By human standards, I am quite old. Even by youkai standards, actually," Tiara states.

"See, it's not a problem at all," Marisa replies.

A shot of red knife danmaku is sent flying past Marisa's ear, barely missing her. If it had been even a millimeter closer to Marisa, it would drawn blood.

"Do mind your manners, I may not miss next time," Tiara states.

"You call that a miss, ze!" Marisa shouts.

"Enough playing, Tiara. Part of why I am here is so I can seal you again. I don't know how that man managed to get you free of my barrier without alerting me, but I can assure you it will not happen again," Yukari states.

"Oh? Is that an idle threat, or a wasted promise? Matters not which. After today, Yukari, you won't be around to ponder it," Tiara replies.

"I would say more of a promise. There's four of us here, as well as the others behind this barrier. They will find a way to break through here, and then you'd find yourself in a rather unfavorable position, wouldn't you?" Yukari asks, "Even then, it's still four against one."

"You should know odds mean nothing against me. You and that pet over there tried to go after me together last time, did you not? She was pushed aside without much effort. Do you really think a human and a vampire could help you that much more?" Tiara asks.

"You fought her, too?" Marisa asks of Ran.

"It was not a pleasant experience. Odds mean nothing against her. She can change them at will with her mirror. That's our target. We have to break the magic of that mirror. Without it, she can't use her ability," Ran replies.

"Well, if that's the case, kyuu!" Flandre shouts. An explosion fills the sky where Tiara had been moments ago.

"Gone!" Flandre shouts.

"Geez, did you have to break her like that?" Marisa asks.

"It's not that easy," Ran points out, look.

"Eh?" Marisa and Flandre react, looking to see Tiara standing as she was before. Flandre looks on at Tiara in confusion.

"Expecting that to work? It would seem you're having trouble with your vision," Tiara states, while looking straight at Flandre.

"This is... I don't understand," Flandre states.

"What? Didn't you do that thing where you grab the 'eye' of the object you want to destroy?" Marisa asks.

"I did, but... now there's a lot of them. She has a lot of eyes now," Flandre states.

"Oh, don't mind that. Just making some copies. Wouldn't want you to do something to me, now," Tiara replies.

"Wait, she can copy that?" Marisa asks.

"Just as my ability to affect barriers spans both the physical and metaphysical, so does her ability to create copies," Yukari answers.

"Very good, Yukari, so you still remember how that works, do you?" Tiara asks.

"I know that you can't defeat the four of us like this. You don't have enough power to take us on in that capacity," Yukari replies.

"If this was back then, I suppose that possibility would exists. Here in my current capacity, however, that is not a problem. You can thank your friend with the Outside World technology. A 'micro nuclear reactor,' or something. I don't care for the name; I just know it grants me quite a bit of power. More than enough to defeat all of you," Tiara states.

"Master Spark!" Marisa shouts, sending her trademark laser in the direction of Tiara. The youkai smiles before holding up her mirror.

"Get back!" Ran shouts, pulling Flandre and Marisa down as Tiara reflects Marisa's Master Spark back at them, with more power than initially put into it.

"Ah, I remember that. Oh, if only Yuka would have played more often. I guess she got tired of losing all the time," Tiara states.

"So you beat Yuka in a spell card duel? I've done that, ze," Marisa replies.

"No, not a spell card duel. We were fighting to the death. Well, neither of us died. She was at least strong enough to find a way to come back every time I thought I killed her. At least she had the sense to stop coming after me after that time I leveled her pretty little mansion," Tiara states.

"Okay, she's strong, ze," Marisa replies.

"I don't care how strong she is! We can beat her, right?" Flandre asks.

Yukari didn't seem entirely sure. She was more than familiar with nuclear power. It had already been unleashed upon Gensokyo in the form of Reiuji Utsuho. The idea of someone with a greater degree of control wielding such power did not sit well with her.

"I will seal you again," Yukari declares, steeling her resolve.

"Very good, Yukari. I was hoping you wouldn't try to make this too easy for me. Now then, prepare yourselves, for yourselves!" Tiara shouts.

"Mirror Sign 'Dark Universe!'" Tiara declares.

The world around the group confronting Tiara turns black as the night sky, with no stars to light it. Those around Tiara are unable to see anything. After a few moments, a burst of white danmaku appear from where Tiara is. The bursts take the form of large, white sphere danmaku. As the spheres move outward, they burst into moderate sized white sphere danmaku. After going a set distance further, they burst into small, white sphere danmaku. After each change, the danmaku move faster than they had been. The bursts follow a simple radial pattern, with them being easily seen in the dark. However, while the danmaku could been seen, nothing else could be, meaning those caught the spell knew nothing of their surroundings, and could easily run into the ground or each other. After the first round of bursts, another began. This time, the bursts started to spin about the location Tiara is assumed to be, spinning more and more each time the cycle starts.

"This isn't so hard!" Marisa shouts, while dodging, not thinking to keep in mind where everyone was before the start of the spell. Marisa ends up running into Ran, resulting the pair running into some of the danmaku.

"Be careful," Ran states.

"Watch where you're going, ze!" Marisa replies.

"_If I could, it wouldn't be an issue," _Ran thinks to herself.

"_This old trick huh? Seems to work on the witch, and maybe the vampire, but this cheap parlor trick won't work on me,"_ Yukari thinks to herself, while sending out bursts of red and blue sphere danmaku out into the field of bursting white danmaku, rather than at it's center. Marisa and Flandre, not familiar with the spell, aim for the center, while Ran also fires out in a seemingly random pattern. Ran and Yukari manage to hit Tiara, and break the spell.

"Eh, did we get her?" Marisa asks.

"No, we did. She doesn't stay in the center, she moves against the spin of her danmaku field out a set distances form the center of the spell," Ran states.

"Oh, so you remember that one, huh? I suppose that was good for a little warm up. Now it's time for the main event!" Tiara shouts, while preparing her next spell.

On the other side of the wall, Reimu and the others are trying to punch through the barrier set up by Tiara.

"Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal!'" Reimu shouts, drawing forth large orbs of red, blue, and green. The orbs surround Reimu for a moment before being directed at her target, the barrier before her. An explosion occurs where the orbs hit, leading the others present to target the same place Reimu hit.

"Five Elements Sign 'Philosopher's Stone!'" Patchouli shouts. Five books each corresponding to each element Patchouli has called on, appear. The books direct shots of elemental danmaku at the point Reimu targeted.

"Divine Spear 'Spear the Gungnir!'" Remilia shouts. Remilia gathers crimson danmaku into the form of a pair of spears, and hurls them at the point Reimu had targeted.

"Kappa 'Extending Arm!'" Nitori shouts. Nitori fires out a set of green lasers, also targeted where Reimu's orbs were sent.

"Illusion Bomb 'Mind Starmine!'" Reisen and her clone shout. The two rabbits surround themselves with large, crimson orbs, before directing them at the location Reimu's orbs went.

"Blaze Sign 'Fiery Tornado!'" En shouts. En casts forth a funnel of fire, aiming it's vortex for the place Reimu's orbs had targeted.

A massive explosion rocked the surrounding area, sending forth large chunks of debris everywhere along with a thick cloud of smoke. Everyone present waited for a few moments for the smoke to clear, only to find the wall was still standing, bearing several scars from the hits. The small trenches dug into the wall were shrinking, the wall repairing itself to render efforts to break it useless.

"That's no ordinary wall; it's a high level barrier of some kind," Patchouli observes.

"A barrier? Figures Yukari wouldn't be here to help," Reimu replies.

"Lady Yukari and Lady Ran are doing their best to break through on the other side!" Chen shouts.

"I would hope so. Until then, we've got some friends to deal with," Remilia states.

The group of armored men giving chase finally catch up to those trapped at the giant earth wall. They open fire upon their arrival, only to be cut off by another disturbance from the ground below.

"Is it another barrier trap?" Reimu asks.

"No, this is something different," Reisen replies," the energy wavelengths are different."

The ground bursts open, and a swarm of black bursts forth. The black beings take out all of the armored men present without much effort, leaving the group of humans and youkai behind them dumbfounded. After they wipe out the last of the armored men, they turn to face the others, revealing themselves to be more armored men, wearing black armor with glowing red visors instead of the green armor of the others.

"Are they on our side?" Mystia asks.

A crimson burst of danmaku is her answer.

Those on the other side of the barrier notice the ground shaking again, bringing a smile to Tiara's face.

"What's with the grin?" Marisa asks.

"Oh, just a little present I left for your friends on the other side. Wouldn't want to leave them with the time to figure out how to break through that barrier of mine. They should be sufficiently distracted. After all, I made them to take care of that man's army, once I was done using him," Tiara replies, while drawing a spell card.

"Dark Sign 'Spirit Clone!'" Tiara shouts. The card disappears and Tiara's mirror rises in front of her. It turns to face everyone, acting as though it's taking pictures, before spinning around. While the mirror is spinning, it sends out four, human sized danmaku. One is rainbow colored, one is blue, one is black and white, and the other is a deep violet. The danmaku stop in front of everyone, letting out a small burst of light, before appearing to change. The rainbow colored sphere turns into a copy of Flandre, the blue sphere turns into a copy of Ran, the black and white sphere turns into a copy of Marisa, and the violet sphere turns into a copy of Yukari.

"These aren't like the ones I used last time. Rather than having a portion of my power supporting their forms, they are supported by this reactor; they are perfect copies in the truest sense, only missing your personalities. After all, it would do me no good to double my opponents, right?" Tiara asks.

"So you copied me, ze? Big deal. I have this!" Marisa shouts, while pulling out her mini-hakkero. Her clone pulls out her own copy.

"Hey, she has one, too!" Marisa shouts.

"I said perfect copies, did I not? Let's see how well you fare against them, shall we. Do entertain me," Tiara replies.

On the other side of the barrier, the black armored men begin their assault, letting out a massive barrage of crimson danmaku of all shapes and sizes. Those before them move out of the way, a few grazing a few of the shots.

"What's up with these guys? They're much more powerful than the other ones!" Reimu shouts.

"I would like to know why they shot down the others," Kaguya states, while dodging through a barrage.

"If I had to make a guess, I would say another part of their group has plans to defeat and overwhelm the others. I would venture to say this Tiara person intended to get rid of Jin after she was done using him," Eirin answers, while flying between a pair of large, crimson spheres.

"That would certainly fit the facts well," Reisen replies.

The armored men keep up their barrage for a solid three minutes, attempting to overwhelm the group with numbers. During the course of their barrage, the others returned fire, attempting to strike down those firing upon them. Unlike the original armored men, who were prone to being distracted by focusing too hard on one activity, this group was capable of oberserving return fire and responding to it, while not letting up on their own attacks. At the end of their barrage, none of them were taken down, though a few had some scratches in their armor from grazing the shots, resulting from not having enough space to move while in formation. The armored men each pulled out a crimson sword of light before breaking formation and charging towards the girls they were facing, while starting a new barrage. The band of humans and youkai charged against them, bringing themselves into close combat with the black armored men. The armored men outnumbered the others three to one.

"Alright, if this is how you want it, then this is how you can have it! "Divine Spear 'Sphere the Gungnir!'" Remilia shouts, while forming another pair of danmaku spheres. Remilia threw both at the group of armored men approaching her, only to have the group avoid the spheres, just before they hit, before bringing their swords to bear on Remilia. Remilia forms another pair, and uses them as swords, blocking the initial strikes from the armored men. The group tries to overpower Remilia with their enhanced strength, but find they are still limited from being based off of humans, allowing Remilia to start to gain some ground against them. The group responds by leaving one to take care of Remilia up close while the others back off, preparing a barrage of danmaku. Remilia catches on to what they're doing too late. The armored men fighting her by sword back off in time for streams of crimson danmaku to slam into Remilia, sending her crashing towards the ground.

"Mistress!" Sakuya shouts, while being forced to hold off another group of the armored men with her knives. Sakuya is able to parry their attacks with her speed and time tricks, but isn't able to get away to help Remilia out. Sakuya attempts to halt time in order to get away, only to find an armored man blocking her path as she does so, as if the man knew where she was going to appear. Sakuya took a hit to her shoulder out of surprise, resulting in her outfit being torn along with her flesh. Sakuya grunted in pain, but did her best to ignore it, grateful she was able to avoid having her arm severed. Sakuya resumed her attempts to get past the armored men, blocking strike after strike, but finding herself unable to make any kind of progress. Another armored man sneaks up to Sakuya from behind, hitting her with a crimson danmaku sphere. The hit burns part of her outfit away and burns her body, while sending her crashing towards the ground.

"Sakuya!" Remilia shouts, while knocking away a sword with her gohei. Reimu's seemingly fragile weapon is easily able to absorb attacks from the armored men. Reimu was hoping they would be surprised enough to let their guard down, but they continued to attack as though wooden poles were always able to hold their own against beam swords. Reimu continues to knock back their attacks, while being careful to continue to avoid their danmaku shots. A pair of the men attempt to keep Reimu distracted by sword, while others fire danmaku. Reimu responds with her own ofuda danmaku, while still maintaining ground against the armored men. The group of armored men switch tactics, attempting to overwhelm her by putting her up against four armored men swinging swords. Reimu uses her diving power to form one of her orbs into another gohei, helping her to stave off the group, losing track of a fifth armored man below her, who takes a shot at the miko, hitting her in the leg, a causing her to lose her balance, resulting in her taking a pair of slashes across her midsection, before being blasted down towards the ground.

"This isn't good," Letty says, while using wispy, white danmaku as swords. She has her "swords" set to fire out danmaku each time they make contact with another weapon, only to find the armored men able to avoid shots at close range, though some take some minor hits to their armor.

"Well, it seems like you can make mistakes, at least. Too bad you're not all that talkative," Letty remarks, while avoiding a swing of a blade that would have taken her head off. The weapon instead cuts up Letty's hat before it's knocked off of her head. Letty doesn't get too long to miss her accessory before being forced to dodge a stream of crimson orbs, while still parrying sword strikes. Letty is left open while twisting her body to avoid the shots, allowing an armored man to deliver a kick to her midsection, knocking her back. Another armored man slices off Letty's sword wielding hand, while another blasts her a point blank, sending her down into a violent crash.

Nitori is better prepared, having made a pair of beam swords from studying the armored suits from before. She put the little side training Momiji has been giving her to work against those fighting against her. Nitori lets out a silent thanks to the White Wolf Tengu, while carefully moving out of the way of a large, crimson sphere of danmaku. Nitori continues to parry the strikes, while avoiding several kicks from her opponents. Nitori appears to have the upper hand until a pair of armored men approach after finishing their targets. Nitori manages to get a solid hit against one of the armored men, taking out his shoulder cannon, before being assaulted with a more concentrated burst of danmaku. Nitori is able to avoid them, only to have one of her swords knocked out of her hand, followed by an elbow to the gut. Nitori coughs before being hit with a danmaku burst, knocking her out of the sky.

Kaguya and Eirin keep themselves from being separated, Eirin believing the men were trying to corner them each individually. Eirin surrounds the pair with a field of danmaku, while Kaguya sends out barrages of rainbow danmaku. The armored men find it impossible to get close enough to Eirin and Kaguya for close range combat, forcing them to switch back to long range attacks. The armored men quickly analyze the pattern of attacks coming from the pair, realizing Eirin is the one making the defensive field. The group of six change their pattern to swamp Eirin with a massive, dense barrage of crimson danmaku, leaving Eirin to either drop the field and move, or take the attack head on and hope she can hold her spell together. Eirin tries not to move, making sure to keep her protective danmaku field around Kaguya, and manages to avoid the blasts, not seeing another armored man approach from the blind spot Kaguya's body places on Eirin's field of vision.

"Watch out!" Kaguya shouts, seeing what is happening. Eirin doesn't have enough time to respond as the armored man sends danmaku out to close all the gaps Eirin had, resulting in her being hit hard enough to break her spell. Kaguya attempts to use a defensive spell, but is hit before she can make her declaration, resulting in both being sent tumbling out of the sky.

Keine is also surrounded by the black armored men, cutting her off from those around her. Keine herself is sent back against the wall of the barrier leaving her little room to dodge the incoming bursts of danmaku. Keine herself doesn't have anything to use in close range fighting, resulting in her trying to keep her distance from the armored men. The group note this, and bring their swords to bear against Keine, knocking her hat off of her head with a slash intended to remove her head. Keine kicks the man, sending him back, only to get hit with a burst of danmaku from behind. The burst sends Keine crashing into the wall of the barrier, allowing the armored men to take a few more shots at the school teacher, sending her falling to the ground.

Mystia and Wriggle manage to avoid being separated from one another during the initial barrage of the black armored men. Mystia extends her claws to use against the weapons, while Wriggle summons insects and uses her magic to form a sword to use against the armored men. Wriggle takes the offensive lead, while Mystia attempts to fend the group off with her danmaku. Mystia targets the group firing danmaku, while Wriggle focuses on those entering into close range. When the armored men see the pattern, they attempt to rush as Mystia, who starts fending off the armored men with her claws. Wriggle then targets those fighting at long range. The armored men take note of the switch, and make sure to cover the pair equally. Mystia is forced to graze her way through some of the shots Wriggle is unable to stop, startling her enough to slip, leaving an armored man to blast Mystia and send her flying into Wriggle. The pair loose their rhythm from the attack, allowing them to be overwhelmed by the attacks, falling down to ground below.

Tewi dives to the ground as soon as the group splits off, hoping to lose everyone following after her by sneaking down below, while everyone else is fighting in the skies above. Tewi makes it so her descent appears to be the result of taking a bad hit. Once Tewi believes the armored men are no longer paying attention to her, she prepares to target the group attacking Reisen, only to nearly miss a human-sized crimson sphere aimed at her back. Tewi turns around in time to dodge a blade that would have cut off one of her ears if she ducked a second later. Tewi was thankful for her luck before attempting to fire back at the group, only to end up swarmed like the others. Tewi finds herself outnumbered, just as the others, resulting in her having to try to return to the skies, knowing she would be limited in trying to avoid shots while on the ground. Tewi is cut off by a stream of crimson danmaku, right before an armored man sends her tumbling down the path before her with a point-blank shot to her chest.

En finds herself back to back with Chen, the pair struggling to avoid stream after stream of crimson orbs fired at them. After the armored men switch to using their beam swords, En forms a sword of fire, while Chen extends her claws out. The pair keep an eye out for one another, but focus more on their own fights. En is able to send off a few shots of fireball danmaku to keep Chen safe, before being forced to parry a strike that would have taken off one of her wings. En groans at the strength of the armored men, finding her smaller body to have a slight disadvantage. En taps into more of her magic, lighting her wings ablaze as she's able to push back the armored men striking her. En delivers a kick to one of the armored men, knocking him back. En attempts to finish him off, but finds herself cut off from a blast from another armored man. En is forced to fight off another, who brings his sword to bear against her. En gets ready to knock her new opponent back before the one she was about to finish recovers and blasts En out of the sky, sending her tumbling down. Chen sees the hit, trying to race to help En out, quickly forgetting about her own opponents. Chen slashes at one with her claws before being sent tumbling down herself.

Meiling keeps herself close to Patchouli and Koakuma, knowing full well Patchouli has no chance against the armored men in close range combat. Koakuma attempts to keep the armored men at bay herself, while Patchouli sends out multiple bursts of elemental danmaku all around the group. Meiling sets herself to jump at the armored men after they enter a set range, finding her first target rushing towards Patchouli. Meiling gathers her magic into her fists, allowing her to block the beam sword with her bare hands. Meiling hopes to surprise the man with the feat, but finds the man continues his attacks, hoping to land a solid hit on the gatekeeper. Meiling manages to get a hit on the man, resulting in his backing off. Meiling looks satisfied, before hearing Koakuma scream as she's quickly overwhelmed, Meiling's not close enough to protect her. Meiling curses to herself as she gets herself closer to Patchouli, hoping to stave off the group approaching her. Meiling has two armored men attempt to block her path, but gets herself between the pair, only to be hit by a third armored man. Meiling attempts to regain her focus, and engages the armored man, while Patchouli increases the intensity of her magical bursts, hoping to keep the armored men further away. When she sees her plan starting to fail, she readies to use a spell card, only to have Meiling knocked into her, causing her to lose her balance. A group of six armored men rush the pair, sending them crashing into the ground.

Reisen and her clone look on at Tewi, as she tries to get away. The pair don't have the time to look after the elder rabbit before being attacked by a group of armored men themselves. The pair attempt to hit the group with light and sound illusions, giving them a chance to strike at the armored men while they are dealing that which was not there. The pair of lunar rabbits thought their trick worked, until the armored men fire out dense barrages of danmaku aimed all over the area the pair are in. The rabbits realize the armored men knew they were in an illusion, but still could not perceive where the real versions were, allowing the pair hope in that they would be able to stop the armored men and try to save Tewi. Once Reisen and her clone went on the offensive, the armored men found their way to the real ones by tracing the path of the real danmaku. The pair of rabbits soon found themselves overwhelmed, trying to switch strategies to suit close range fighting before Reisen's clone is hit. Reisen herself doesn't last much longer against the group, soon joining her copy on the ground below.

On the other side of the barrier, Marisa, Ran, Flandre, and Yukari have a stare down with their clones, all while Tiara herself is watching. Yukari gathers everyone close, thinking of a plan to deal with their current situation.

"We have to target Tiara. Ignore the clones. This is a spell, like any other. Hit the caster hard enough, and the spell will break," Yukari says, "This was how I was able to defeat her last time."

"Yes, I remember. I focused too much on the clone the last time we fought, and was defeated as a result," Ran adds.

"Okay, so we target the mirror youkai. Sounds easy enough, ze," Marisa replies.

"Let's get her!" Flandre shouts, while charging straight at Tiara. Flandre fires off several shots of blue sphere danmaku, only to be stopped by her clone.

"Taboo 'Lävatein,'" Flandre's clone states in a low monotone. Flandre finds herself face to face with her own spell card, moving out of the way of the large sword of flame, followed by the wave of danmaku it leaves behind. Flandre's initial surprise results in her crashing into a few of the smaller danmaku left behind. Flandre grunts in response, but quickly recollects herself, moving through each field of danmaku and making sure to avoid the flame sword, while firing out blue danmaku orbs in response. The clone moves out of the way of Flandre's shots, while continuing Flandre's spell. At the end of the spell, Flandre charges forward, knowing by heart the exact moment the spell is set to end. The clone Flandre pulls out another spell card right before Flandre can strike.

"Forbidden Barrage 'Catadioptic,'" the clone Flandre declares, firing a burst of blue, human-sized danmaku spheres with smaller blue danmaku spheres trailing behind them. The clone fires the spell off at point blank, striking Flandre head on. Flandre is knocked back, shaken from taking a direct hit, leaving herself open to the next barrage, ending in her being pounded into the ground below.

"Flandre was defeated that quickly!" Marisa shouts.

"Don't charge in recklessly. These clones have all of your spells, full knowledge of how they work, and know just when to use them. They also know all your strategies, so keep that in mind when attacking them," Yukari replies.

"Then how do we beat them?" Marisa asks.

"We don't," Yukari answers.

"We target Tiara; just make sure to get past your clone. If you get stopped by it, you'll never make it past," Ran states.

"We should charge at her at the same time; one of us should be able to make it through to her. Now, let's go!" Yukari shouts.

The other three charge forward, rushing to get past their clones. Ran dashes to make it past hers, but is stopped by a quick barrage of red and magenta kunai danmaku. Ran attempts to get past her clone through the barrage, but ultimately runs straight into her clone.

"Shikigami's Radiance 'Charming Siege from all Sides,'" the clone Ran declares, quickly surrounding Ran in a field of blue danmaku. Ran knows the trick behind the spell, and moves with the shifting of the field she's stuck in. The clone starts firing out red, human-sized danmaku spheres in the direction of Ran. Ran continues to move with the field, avoiding the red danmaku spheres, which increase in density throughout the duration of the spell. At the end of the spell, Ran charges forward again, just getting past her clone as she starts her next spell.

"Illusion God 'Descent of Izuna Gongen,'" the clone Ran declares. Ran's expression goes wide-eyed, knowing she won't have enough time to avoid what's coming next. Ran's clone fires out a spiraling pattern of small, red danmaku, followed by a spiraling pattern of blue arrow danmaku, spiraling the direction opposite of the first burst. This is followed by larger yellow sphere danmaku being fired in a spiraling pattern, followed by green sphere danmaku in a opposing spiraling pattern. The clone finishes by adding in bursts of violet butterfly danmaku with a spiraling pattern of red human-sized danmaku. Ran is too close to her clone, where the field is the most dense, resulting in her being hit multiple times, and being unable to get away. By the end of the spell, Ran is sent tumbling down to the ground with her clone following close by.

"Stardust Reverie!" Marisa shouts, hoping to use the speed of the spell to get past her clone.

"Stardust Reverie," Marisa's clone says back, using the same spell to intercept the witch. The two collide in the air nearby each breaking their spell upon impact. While the original Marisa recovers, the clone pulls out a spell card.

"Light Blast 'Shoot the Moon,'" Marisa's clone declares. Marisa picks herself up in time to see her clone send out a series of familiars out behind her, while firing out several streams of small, yellow star danmaku. The streams of yellow stars form the spokes of a wheel, spinning along slowly, while each familiar behind Marisa shoots out a red laser. This is followed by another row of familiars, this group firing out blue lasers. More familiars are sent out to fire the red lasers, starting the pattern again, all while the wheel of yellow danmaku is turning. Marisa weaves through the yellow star danmaku, knowing she needs to get past her clone before the end of the spell, or she won't be able to get away. Marisa speeds towards her clone as the familiars her clone sends out appear in faster and faster cycles throughout the spell. Marisa finally makes it past her clone just as the spell ends, leading Marisa to increase her speed, knowing full well what is coming next.

"Magicannon 'Final Master Spark,'" Marisa's clone declares, sending out a wave of red and blue star danmaku, while sending out a laser twenty times as wide as Marisa is tall. Marisa knows she isn't far enough way from her clone, and braces herself for the coming attack, trying to at least get out of the center of the blast. Much to Marisa's horror, her clone foresees the path she takes, pointing the laser straight at her. Marisa is hit head on, knocking her off of her broom, and sending her tumbling out of the sky.

Yukari makes a run straight for her clone, looking to gap through it at the last second, and end up right in Tiara's face. Yukari perfectly executes her plan, gapping inches away from her clone, but to her surprise, she ends up right in front of her clone, not Tiara. The clone Yukari takes advantage of her original's surprise, and knocks her back with a swing of her parasol.

"_This is impossible! She couldn't make a clone capable of countering my barriers so easily before! Does she really have that much more power now!"_ Yukari thinks to herself, right before being struck by her clone again. Yukari sees her clone preparing to use a gap, and attempts to force her clone into her striking range, only to find she couldn't modify her clones barrier at all, resulting in Yukari taking a hard punch to her face.

"_This can't be... this clone has more power than I!_" Yukari thinks to herself, trying to figure out what has gone wrong. Her clone gaps in front of her and brings forth a mass burst of violet butterfly danmaku at point blank, knocking Yukari out of the sky.

"Ha ha ha! Is that all you have! You're making this much too easy, Yukari!" Tiara shouts in glee, watching as her opponents are being taken down.

In the base, Kario and Genichiro clash their weapons together, the sound reverberating down the corridor.

"I see you have some strength for a human," Genichiro states.

"Comes with having had many years of experience wiping out your kind," Kario replies.

The two pull their weapons back and go for another strike, Genichiro going for Kario's midsection, while Kario aims for Genichiro's head. The weapons hit, and the pair pull back again, Genichiro pulling a reverse spin to catch Kario from his other side, while Kario moves to block. The weapons hit again, Kario knocking Genichiro slightly off balance, giving him a small opening to hit Genichiro from the side. Genichiro regains himself, swinging his blade down to block the strike. Genichiro takes aim for Kario's left shoulder, pulling his blade up, then quickly swinging it back down, while Kario goes to decapitating Genichiro. Both roll away from the strike of the others weapon. Genichiro decides to pull out a spell card.

"War Sign 'Shadow Army!'" Genichiro shouts. At the end of Genichiro's declaration, twenty copies of himself fill the corridor. The copies begin firing aimed bursts of blue arrow danmaku in random intervals, forcing Kario to move carefully in the already confined space of the corridor. Genichiro himself dashes for Kario, forcing him to fight him close, while still being mindful of the clones firing at him. Genichiro brings his sword down upon Kario, who quickly blocks the strike, before moving out of the way of a stream of danmaku. Genichiro moves to the side, and aims to hit Kario again, the man in red rolling under his strike. Kario stands up in front of one of Genichiro's clones, and takes it down with a slash across it's midsection. Genichiro attempts to get at Kario from behind, hoping to catch him off guard while he's attacking the clone, only to have Kario block his blade, as though he had eyes in the back of his head to see the strike coming. Kario spun and moved to kick Genichiro in the midsection, knocking the Tengu back, while taking out another pair of his clones. Genichiro jumps up, spinning through the air, and lands in the middle of his clones, before aiming a strike at Kario's head. Kario blocks while taking out a clone at the same time. Kario goes to strike at Genichiro, missing him, but hitting another clone. The pair exchange several more blows while Kario takes out Genichiro's clones. After the last clone is dispelled, Kario delivers a hard kick to Genichiro, knocking him down the corridor, while firing off a barrage of fast moving, blue human-sized danmaku spheres. An explosion takes place where the sphere's hit, knocking Genichiro further down the corridor.

"Now you see, little tengu. Now you see that your little tricks mean nothing to my centuries of experience," Kario states, while charging forward towards Genichiro, hoping to catch him while he's still laying on the ground from the last strike.

On the field, those caught in the trap of the black armored men are all thrown down on the ground. The men in black fire out a rain storm of red human-sized danmaku spheres, the explosions tossing everyone on the ground about. At the end of the barrage, the armored men charge down, blades drawn. Reisen sees a man coming straight for her, knowing she won't be able to get out of the way in time. She closes her eyes, waiting for the strike to come, but feels nothing. Then she feels a warm liquid being splattered on her face. Reisen opens her eyes to look on at a horrifying sight. Her clone stood up at the last second, taking the blade straight through her body.

"I'm... just an artificial... copy... can't... let you... die..." the clone Reisen states, a smile on her face, with blood dribbling down her cheek.

"R-reisen!" Reisen shouts.

"I-it's okay... Reisen... look after our master... and the princess... okay?" Reisen's clone replies, turning to give the original Reisen one last smile before the armored man rips his sword up through the clone Reisen's body, tearing his weapon out near the clone's left shoulder.

"_Remember... me..."_ the clone Reisen communicates telepathically, as the strike splashes blood all over the ground. At the end of the strike, the clone Reisen's lifeless body falls to the ground.

The original Reisen is stunned at the sight, not knowing how to respond at first. The black armored men charge for her while she replays the scene of her clone's death over and over again in her mind. Right as the armored men are upon her, Reisen let's out a howl of rage before blasting the armored man before her with a pair of lasers from her eyes. The man is knocked back, his chest armor being completely blown off from the hit. The man's movements become sloppy, while Reisen pulls out a spell card.

"Lunar Eyes 'Tele-mesmerism!'" Reisen shouts. Reisen brings forth a massive barrage of red and magenta bullet shaped danmaku. The danmaku rapidly close in from the side, before briefly pausing, and appearing to change position in Reisen's illusion. The quick moving danmaku continue to come through, while the armored man before Reisen attempts to dodge through it with his broken movement. With the previous damage to his person leaving him unable to move properly, he's left taking hit after hit, while his compatriots are able to move out of the way. The man takes several more hits before finally exploding at the end of Reisen's spell. Reisen pants at the end, worn out from using her spell at an aggressively high level. Her small victory is short lived when the army of armored men let down another barrage of red human-sized danmaku, blowing Reisen back to where the others are.

"_Is this it? Are we going to die here? Even after all that, I was only able to take out one of them. Please, someone, anyone! Help us!"_ Reisen thinks to herself as she's sent flying through the air.

The armored men prepare to dive after everyone again when an explosion rips through their ranks, taking out fifteen of them in one go. The armored men scramble back and forth while being chased by several missiles that appear to be coming from one of Jin's machines.

"Ye-haw!" a voice shouts throughout the sky, while one of Jin's jets comes flying through. The armored men shoot at the missiles, with ten more being taken down for not having enough time to react.

"What's going on!" Reimu shouts.

The jet pauses for a moment, and the hatch opens, the form of Fujiwara no Mokou becoming visible.

"Hope I didn't miss too much of the fun. I was hoping to get to punish these guys in full after what I just went through!" Mokou shouts.

"Mokou, I never thought I would be so glad to see you!" Kaguya shouts.

"That makes two of us," Mokou replies, while closing the hatch and avoiding the swarm of armored men chasing after her. The others quickly piece together what is going on, and prepare for their counterattack.

"I'm done with this mess! Divine Spirit 'Fantasy Seal!'" Reimu shouts, conjuring up several orbs in the colors of red, green, and blue. The orbs surround her before seeking out the armored men nearest to her.

"Kappa 'Extending Arm!'" Nitori declares, sending out several lasers forming a mesh around her, with bullets coming from her at regular intervals.

"Pseudo History 'The Legend of Gensokyo!'" Keine calls out. Keine sends out three sets of familiars around her. The familiars spin while firing out lasers, followed by Keine firing our bursts of red arrow danmaku in regular intervals.

"Divine Treasure 'Salamander Shield!'" Kaguya shouts. Kaguya's robe of the fire rat comes to life, sending out bursts of fire ball danmaku and targeted lasers in the direction of the armored men.

"Curse of the Heavens 'Apollo 13!'" Eirin declares. A dense field of dark red and dark blue danmaku appears around Eirin. The danmaku light up around her and the field collapses in on itself before exploding outward.

"Scarlet Sign 'Scarlet Meister!'" Remilia shouts. Remilia sends out fast moving bursts of crimson human-sized danmaku, with trails of smaller danmaku following close behind.

"Maid Secret Skill 'Killing Doll!'" Sakuya shouts. Sakuya freezes time, then sends out a mass barrage of red, blue, and green handled knives, each color set aimed to burst out in a different way, with Sakuya randomly changing the directions of the knives each time she stops time.

"Fire and Earth Sign 'Lava Cromlech!'" Patchouli calls out. Patchouli sends out a burst of fireball danmaku, followed by a burst of smaller, earth-based danmaku. The earth danmaku stay in place around Patchouli for a few seconds before flying off in a radial spin from their point of origin.

The armored men, set to ambush and overwhelm before spell cards could be used against them, where quickly overwhelmed themselves, following Mokou's jet rampage through their ranks. Once faced with multiple spell cards heading in their direction, they were no longer the invincible killing machines they were moments before. Man after man fall to the colorful barrage sent their way. The opening barrage of the spell attacks take out twenty more of the men. The group is forced to spread out thinly, so each man has enough room to move around the danmaku heading for them. Mokou picks off the stragglers attempting to leave the group, taking out four more before her jet is hit.

"Darn, I was just starting to like this thing!" Mokou shouts as fire and smoke come from the damaged engine. Mokou pops off the canopy, forms her phoenix wings, then pilots the jet to crash into a couple of the armored men, before exploding against Tiara's barrier.

By the time Mokou's jet crashes, the armored men find themselves outnumbered, outgunned, and outmatched, quickly falling to the ends of the spells. With only a few armored men left at the end of the spells, the group attempts to retreat, only to find Reisen, along with Tewi, Eirin, and Kaguya blocking their paths.

"This is for my friend!" Reisen shouts, before firing out a pair of lasers from her eyes at high speed. The armored man in front of her was immediately taken out, while Eirin, Tewi, and Kaguya finished off the last of them.

"Is it finally over?" Mokou asks.

"Not yet; we have to break through that barrier. Someone has trapped Yukari, Ran, Marisa, and Flandre in there," Reimu replies.

"Alright then, if that's all that's in the way, then lets tear this thing down!" Mokou shouts, her hands glowing with the power of fire.

At the base, a loud clash echoes down the corridor as Genichiro is sent tumbling further down. He managed to block Kario's strike, but was unable to get solid footing before hand, disallowing him a chance to hold his ground against Kario's momentum. Kario sends out another burst of large danmaku spheres, followed by lasers to further disorient Genichiro. The resulting explosions send him and his sword in separate directions. The armor Genichiro is wearing is scratched and burnt from the multiple near misses. A little blood drips down the side of Genichiro's face from a scratch resulting from him slamming into the wall.

"Is that all? Done at last? What a shame. I was hoping someone who went through all the trouble to face me personally would be able to put up a little more of a fight. Perhaps I was doing you a favor by killing you in the past. If I didn't do the job, some random youkai or human would have done you in. A shame. Maybe, by the time you reincarnate yourself again, you'll at least be a little more interesting to fight," Kario states, while noticing Genichiro trying to get himself back up. Kari opens up several panels on his right arm, revealing several small missiles. The missiles make their way for Genichiro. The wolf tengu is able to avoid them, only to find they are seeking missiles. Genichiro is able to shake them off into the walls, the explosions close enough to cause him further injury.

"And so the life of another freak ends. Look at how pathetic you are, crawling about, hoping for some miracle to occur! Guess what, my friend, there are no miracles to be had here!" Kario shouts, before firing another barrage of danmaku at Genichiro, blasting him into the ceiling, before he falls back to the ground. Blood splatters from the cut on his head, the left side of his face now covered in blood. Streaks of crimson now run down his white hair.

"I grow bored of this. Maybe the others will be more entertaining. Like that gap youkai, or that shrine maiden. Or maybe even that vampire you've been hanging around with, that one you took from my grasp before. I bet you thought you were quite the hero then, didn't you, but all for naught. Once I get my hands on her, I'll torture her slowly, just for you. I'll enjoy ripping her body apart, and I'll do it nice and slow. I'll make sure she feels it as every ligament in her body is torn. And when I'm finally done, I'll smash her pretty little face in, slow enough for her to feel her skull as it cracks apart!" Kario shouts.

"No... you'll never... you'll never get your hands on her!" Genichiro shouts, rapidly rising to his feet, and summoning his sword to his side. Genichiro charges straight for Kario, and takes a heavy swing at him, hitting him hard enough to send him back.

"What... how... where did this power come from!" Kario shouts, before narrowly avoiding a strike that would have severed his arm. His armor sparks from being cut into. Genichiro steps up the speed and power behind his strikes, knocking Kario further back with each successive hit. Genichiro swings his sword at Kario's midsection, etching another mark into his armor, with resulting sparks. Genichiro rapidly pulls his sword back and swings up, knocking Kario's sword up and resulting in a slash going up through Kario's armor. Genichiro goes for Kario's head next. Kario is able to block, but not without getting a cut across his cheek. Genichiro continues to put more power behind his swings, pounding at Kario harder and harder, until Kario's arm hits the wall. Genichiro then cuts off Kario's right arm, his sword falling with it.

"Gah!" Kario shouts, while backing into the wall behind him.

"It's time for it to end!" Genichiro shouts, before kicking Kario back.

"This is for all the humans you sacrificed for your goals!" Genichiro shouts, before hitting him with a burst of danmaku, sending him crashing down the corridor.

"This is for all the youkai you've killed!" Genichiro shouts, sending another blast at Kario, blowing him further down the corridor.

"This is for attacking Gensokyo!" Genichiro shouts, sending out a laser from his sword, pushing Kario back down to where their fight had started. Genichiro charges down the corridor, his sword pointing forward. Kario is left with no time to react, in too much pain to think clearly. The next thing he sees is Genichiro's sword going straight through him. Kario coughs up blood as a result of the fatal blow.

"This is for threatening to hurt those close to me," Genichiro states, his sword pinning Kario to the wall. Kario coughs some more, while sparks come flying out the back of his armored outfit. Kario then lets out a smile, turning to full on laugh before he grabs Genichiro's sword with his remaining hand. Genichiro tries to pull his sword free, but can't.

"Ha ha! Alright, that's fine... so you killed me eh? Alright, but know this. My armor is powered by a compact nuclear reactor, set to go critical if I am ever fatally injured. There is now a device holding your sword in place and you along with it!" Kario shouts.

Genichiro quickly notices he can't let his sword go, a look of surprise across his face.

"Yes, that's right! Genichiro, if I go down, you're going down with me!" Kario shouts, before laughing once again.

A panicked expression crosses Genichiro's face, before quickly being replaced by one of calm.

"Sorry, but not today," Genichiro replies, before dissolving his sword, freeing him from Kario, leaving a shocked look on the armored man's face.

"It's soul bound to me, and can be summoned and hidden at will. Give my regards to the Yama in charge of judging you!" Genichiro shouts, before putting his tengu speed to work, getting himself quickly away from Kario.

"No!" Kario shouts, as the sparks shooting from his armor build up, followed by a massive explosion. The shock wave sends Genichiro flying down through to the other side of the base, while the side Kario is on collapses. Genichiro shakes himself a little, while looking down at the flames of Kario's demise.

"Finally, it's done," Genichiro says to himself, while slowly picking himself up. The pain of his injuries are getting to him, but he writes them off, as he looks around for the nearest exit.

Outside, Yukari, Marisa, Ran, and Flandre struggle to pick themselves up, only to be knocked back down by their clones.

"To think, I actually have technology to thank for this. If I had known it would be this easy, I would have taken direct action myself from that start instead of using that fool!" Tiara shouts, enjoying the display of her opponents being beaten.

An explosion shakes the area as Flandre is tossed into the air by an explosion created by her clone. Flandre lands near Tiara, looking for a chance to defeat the one pulling the strings. Flandre is quickly knocked back down by her clone's Lävatein striking her head.

"Now, now, you shouldn't pick a new target until you've taken care of your first one. That's something that Kario should have considered. If he just committed himself to one target, he could have made things so much easier on himself. Well, it would be nice if he could at least take care of that intruder," Tiara remarks.

"Intruder? Gen-kun?" Flandre asks, before being thrown into the ground by her wings.

"Is that his name? Doesn't matter. I don't really care what his name is, as long as Kario gets rid of him. He can kill him, experiment on him, I don't care which. I haven't heard too much coming from that base of his, so he must have killed him already."

"No, Gen-kun promised me he wouldn't die!" Flandre shouts, while trying to knock away a strike from her clone, only to get a kick to her midsection.

"He promised you he wouldn't die? Like some kind of hero? And you believed him? Like he could make a promise like that! Whether he lives or dies is all on the whims of those around him. If he wanted to live so badly, he should have never came here. I don't know what he hoped to accomplish, but death is his only reward. He signed his own death certificate the moment he was caught."

"He won't die! I trust him! He saved me before, and he'll save me again, if needed!" Flandre shouts, a laser from her clone being her immediate reply.

"Ah yes, I heard about that. How noble of him. He should have just kept himself out of this mess. Now, he's probably being picked apart. I'm sure Kario will torture him slowly before killing him, beating him senseless, putting him in as much pain as possible. Even yanking out a few organs after ripping his gut open just to see how much his body can take before it fails him and regenerates, only for him to repeat the process again, before using his youkai killing spell."

"Youkai killing spell?"

"Yes, it destroys the magic we're formed from. He hoped to hide it from me, but I've been keeping a watchful eye over him. I can't have him killing me with it, after all. He's probably already used it by now. Foolish man, now he can enjoy a fools death," Tiara shouts with a malicious grin before breaking off into ominous laughter. Flandre's clone moves to decapitate the small vampire, only to have her Lävatein blocked by Flandre's own. Unlike before, Flandre is able to hold her ground.

"What!" Tiara shouts in surprise.

"Do not... do not speak of Gen-kun like that!" Flandre shouts, before an aura of red magic surrounds her being. The prism shards on her back glow brightly from the magical power running through her body. Flandre knocks her clone back with the explosion of power she has. Flandre then forms a new spell card in her hand, formed from her thoughts and emotions in her current state of mind.

"Forbidden Barrage 'End of Daylight!'" Flandre shouts. The sky above Flandre appears to come under an eclipse. A dark cloud forms above Flandre, her wings and glowing red eyes being the only source of light around her. The dark cloud suddenly sparks to life, showing itself to be made of a dense form of dark danmaku. The danmaku light up to match the colors of Flandre's wings, before raining down in a dense barrage, leaving the sky to be dark again. The danmaku rain down in random directions, but each fall straight down along their path. The dark sky lights up again, followed by another shower of fast moving danmaku. The sky darkens and lightens again, faster and faster, new barrages starting before the previous is finished. After the first couple of barrages, a set of lasers come down, matching the color and number of Flandre's wings, before the barrage turns into a constant rain of bright danmaku set against a sky of pitch black, with the lasers coming down at regular intervals. Flandre's clone, not having knowledge of the new spell, isn't able to respond to it properly, taking several hits from the danmaku barrage before being finished off by the lasers. Tiara herself takes a few hits, but not enough to break her clone spell.

"I don't believe it! You figured out the trick to beating my clones!" Tiara shouts.

Flandre fails to hear her as she charges straight at Tiara, Lävatein in hand. Tiara is forced to block with her mirror. Tiara herself can't form a new spell while her clone spell is in place, leaving her forced to fight with Flandre hand to hand, until the clones finish off their targets and come to her aid. Flandre hits Tiara's mirror several times, causing it to start to crack from the stress. Tiara senses this, and enhances her strength by tapping further into the power of the reactor given to her by Kario. Flandre and Tiara clash again, sending the pair bouncing back and landing on the ground. The pair pause a moment to catch their breath, before charging at each other again. Flandre avoids a strike from Tiara's fist, ready to deliver a shot to Tiara's midsection. Tiara blocks with her mirror, the item holding up better from the increased power, but still weakening. Flandre continues to pound away at Tiara, using her vampire speed to make it difficult for Tiara to get keep up. Tiara sees an opening and goes for Flandre's midsection, only to leave herself open to a hit to her face. Tiara reels back in pain, leaving herself open to several more strikes. Tiara has no choice to but to block with her mirror again, allowing it to take four more strikes before Tiara can move away from the vampire. The mirror is now cracked throughout it's surface, tinges of light leaking from it, showing how far it's been damaged. Tiara looks on with horror, seeing Flandre charge at her for one more strike. Flandre hits hard, crashing through the mirror, and pummeling Tiara. The mini reactor, which was attached to the mirror, explodes, sending both flying back.

Flandre lands on her feet, looking for her target. Tiara, now no longer able to defend herself, slowly stands up. Her clones shriek before disappearing, with Tiara no longer having enough power to properly sustain them. Flandre moves her hand up, gripping her hand along Tiara's eye. Tiara can no longer project copies of her eye, seeing the end approaching her. She closes her eyes, waiting for the explosion, but it never comes.

"No, I won't. I'm not a child anymore, I'm Flandre Scarlet of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I won't give in to my emotions anymore," Flandre states, before lowering her hand. Marisa walks up behind Flandre, and rests her hand on the vampires shoulder.

"You did the right thing, ze!" Marisa shouts, looking beaten and battered from her clone, but still able to smile.

Yukari walks up to Tiara, looking down on her long time adversary.

"Go ahead, seal me again! I'll just break free again, and come back! You can't just throw me away!" Tiara shouts.

Yukari surprises everyone by hugging Tiara. Even Tiara herself is left speechless.

"No, I won't. There's no need to, now. You've seen it, haven't you? What you could not see before," Yukari states.

"W-what are you talking about? The last few centuries drive you senile!" Tiara shouts, backing off in mild disgust.

"This is our world, Tiara. A world where we can all live as we are, without fear of being hunted down and exterminated. Can't you feel it? You told me before that you had to take over to protect youkai. That I wouldn't take a stand and kill all the humans. You called me a coward back then. You helped in part, to guide me to the creation of this sanctuary. Now that you've fought us, a group composed of youkai and humans, you can see it, can't you?" Yukari asks.

"See it... I see... a world where humans and youkai get along... a world of coexistence... that world of peace I hoped to bring about by conquest... and you... you brought it forth by your own will, without shedding a drop of blood, didn't you?" Tiara asks.

"You felt it, even within that seal, when I made the barrier with the Hakurei Clan. You had to, after all, as part of you, and every being of magic in Gensokyo helped to give birth to it. This barrier relies on the balance between both youkai and humans alike. This barrier, that gives life to this land, is sustained by those within it. The balance, that's what keeps it in place, the balance of the human spirit and the youkai spirit. There's no need to fight. No more humans will come after you in fear of you. This land... is a paradise for us all," Yukari explains.

Tiara stands in place, dumbfounded, not sure what to think, before she finally breaks down, crying and wailing.

"It's okay, dear, we've all made mistakes," Yukari consoles.

"Geez, just like that. Yukari goes and makes friends with the villain?" Marisa asks.

"Lady Yukari loves this land, and, though you may not believe this, her love extends to its inhabitants, as well. Her love, and the magic born from it, that's what Gensokyo truly is made of. You, the 'Love-colored Magician,' should know this more than anyone," Ran replies.

"The magic of love, ze? I dunno about that, or Yukari loving everyone, but if everyone gets along in the end, that's just fine with me, right, Flandre?" Marisa asks.

"Yeah," Flandre replies.

"What's got you down, huh?" Marisa asks.

"I'm worried about Gen-kun," Flandre answers.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine, you'll see soon enough. He'll come back, and say 'I made it back, just like I promised!'" Marisa shouts.

Flandre smiles a little, while Marisa gives her a pat on the back, the pair waiting to see when Genichiro will emerge from the base ahead.

Inside the base, Genichiro starts looking around, trying to figure out where he is.

"I must be further inside the base than I was before. Hm... and what is this ominous feeling? Something that's out of place. This feeling... like it was too easy. And why didn't Kario use any youkai abilities? Mokou said he could use the abilities of the youkai he captured, so why didn't' he? Did his arrogance lead him to believe he didn't need them?" Genichiro asks himself, while heading down the corridor he's in. Genichiro suddenly moves to the side, narrowly avoiding a massive beam of fire. Genichiro turns around, looking down the smoke filled corridor where Kario's armor exploded. Genichiro looks to see someone emerge from the smoke. A low laugh coming from within.

"That laugh... that's... that's impossible!" Genichiro shouts.

The laughing becomes louder as the form of Kario appears, now wearing nothing but the under suit of his armor. He is surrounded by four yin-yang orbs, and has wings of fire behind him, while bearing a sword of fire in his left hand and a sword of ice in the other.

"How! You should be dead! You said it yourself, you were immortal, but you could be killed!" Genichiro shouts.

"Yes, yes. That much was true in the past, but now that I'm a Hourai immortal, that restriction no longer applies," Kario answers.

"What... but that's... Mokou stole and drink all the elixir you made!"

"Oh, did she? I was hoping to profit from that. No matter, I can make more from my own body if needed. After all, there are those outside who would pay quite the sum of money for true immortality."

"So, you really did consume some in advance..."

"I hadn't had time to test if I made the elixir correctly. If I made a mistake, I could very well have been killed. I see now that this line of thinking was unnecessary. I am truly invincible. I can still feel the pain of that explosion, but that's minor in comparison to the power I feel running through my veins. Now, Genichiro, it's time I finish what I started," Kario remarks, while bringing forth a spell card. Unlike normal spell cards, the one Kario brought forth had an aura of dark energy around it.

"Malice Sign 'Minus K!'" Kario shouts. Kario starts sending out streams of black ice danmaku around him. The streams rotate about him counterclockwise. After moving a set distance away from Kario, the bullets shatter into small bullets, branching off along the general direction the bullet they emerged from was traveling. Kario adds in a shots of smaller black ice danmaku around him to fill the gaps between the streams of the larger ice danmaku. Genichiro's shock at Kario's change in tactics leaves him to get hit by one of the smaller ice danmaku. Unlike the danmaku of a regular spell card battle, which caused minor pain when hit, Kario's danmaku left burn marks from the dark energy within. Genichiro realized quickly Kario was using a spell card designed to kill, not one for settling an argument. Genichiro avoids the danmaku, and makes his was way to get close to Kario. Kario smiles, striking at Genichiro with his twin swords, while his spell continues. Genichiro is knocked back, quickly, leading him to send out a burst of arrow danmaku at point blank. Kario takes the hits, his card breaking as a result.

"Seems you don't quite have the knack for our kind of fighting," Genichiro states.

"I'm just getting started. Pain Sign 'Flaming River!'" Kario declares. Following the declaration, Genichiro is forced to take to the air as the ground around him is covered in black flames. From the dark flames emerge dark fire danmaku, firing up like cannon fire. Kario himself swings his flame sword, now also made of the dark flames, at Genichiro. The swings produce dark, crescent danmaku, aimed at Genichiro. The wolf tengu decides to move closer to the fiery ground, in order to make himself less of a target for Kario. Kario has a hard time keeping an eye on Genichiro as his own field of danmaku clouds his vision. Kario sends out the crescent shaped danmaku at random, hoping to land a hit on Genichiro. Unknown to Kario, Genichiro uses the cover to get behind Kario, and delivers a powerful slash, cutting Kario in half at the midsection, Kario's spell breaking immediately.

"If you don't want to play by the rules, I can oblige you," Genichiro states, while kicking Kario's top half down. Kario appears to be dead, but Genichiro doesn't fall for it, firing a massive burst of arrow danmaku at Kario. The immortal quickly rises, pulling his lower half to himself and reuniting with it, while at the same time taking several hits from Genichiro's attack.

"You didn't expect me to believe you could survive a micro-nuclear explosion but not being bisected, did you?" Genichiro asks.

Kario grunts at Genichiro's statement, before pulling out another spell card.

"Chaos 'Invisible Full Moon!'" Kario shouts. Kario's eye turn red, like Reisen's before glowing brightly. Kario starts sending out rings of dense, dark danmaku. The density makes them impossible to go through. Kario also sends out strings of bullets out from himself. Kario's eyes flash, making the dark danmaku disappear. When his eyes flash again, the dark danmaku reappear. Kario times the phases of the bullets randomly, making impossible for Genichiro to predict when the bullets will appear and disappear. Genichiro backs off, firing out more arrow danmaku while moving back. Genichiro soon hits the wall, looking for a chance to blow through once the bullets phase out. They do, and Genichiro quickly flies through. The field reappears while Genichiro's legs are still in the field, injuring him, but he shrugs it off, heading straight for Kario. Genichiro cuts Kario's head in half, splattering his blood about, and breaking the spell. Kario's body tumbles back for several moments, while the rest of his head regenerates.

"Gah! World of Death 'Sen Bounded Danmaku Field!'" Kario shouts.

Genichiro backs away from Kario, as streams of dark arrow danmaku emerge from him. The streams hit a barrier, going into it. Beyond the barrier is another, with the danmaku streams emerging from it, trapping Genichiro in a field of the arrow danmaku. Kario begins to get the streams of arrow danmaku in motion around him, while sending out bursts of dark orb danmaku. The dark orbs enter the barrier, and come out through the other side, leaving Genichiro to dodge danmaku from multiple directions. Genichiro moves around, avoiding where the streams of arrow danmaku close in on themselves. Kario notes this, and increases the speed of their rotation, forcing Genichiro to move faster. Genichiro then notes Kario is focusing too much on increasing the intensity of his spell, rather than trying to move about. Genichiro seizes the opportunity, and swings his sword in the direction of Kario, bringing forth his own crescent danmaku. Genichiro's strike hits Kario, knocking him back a bit, prompting him to further increase the speed of the danmaku moving around Genichiro. Genichiro puts his tengu speed to the test, while getting off a few more shots at Kario. The spell quickly breaks, with Kario's attempts to increase it's output causing it to not be as resilient.

"Dark Field 'Boundary of Death!'" Kario shouts. Kario starts firing out a series of small dark danmaku in a radial pattern. This is quickly followed by streams of dark arrow danmaku in an opposing radial pattern. Larger dark orbs of danmaku in two sets, each going the opposite direction of the other are added on, followed by human-sized dark danmaku spheres and black insect danmaku. Genichiro looks on at the sight, and quickly realizes Kario is now acting out of desperation, his spells becoming more sloppy and rushed as a result. Genichiro shrugs off the attacks, and delivers a hard punch to Kario, strong enough to break Kario's spell in one hit, and send him tumbling back.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" Genichiro asks.

Kario gets himself up, dusts himself off, then throws his head back in mad laughter.

"I fail to see what's so funny," Genichiro states.

"You don't, do you? How could you? You've never experienced this before! Haven't you noticed. You've killed me several times over, but I'm still here, good as new! It's like an intoxicating drug, and I just can't get enough. I can survive it all. There's nothing you can do to stop me. I'll just keep coming back each time. But you, even with youkai magic, there's only so many times you can come back before your form falls apart and you die. You might have that trick of yours, but it's nothing in comparison to mine! I can't be killed! I'll never die! I don't even have to try, I'll just outlast you!" Kario shouts amidst a loud fit of laughter. Genichiro frowns, before charging straight at Kario and smashing his head against the wall with his sword, only to see him come back again. Kario then holds his hand out towards Genichiro. The tengu recognizes the pose and misses being destroyed by a second, and explosion filling the space next to him.

"Ha ha ha! All this power, too. It's no fun not using it. I think I've tested my immortality enough, now it's time to show you what else I've gained. Brace yourself, Genichiro, for this time, I'm going all out! Secret Barrage 'Black Plague!'" Kario shouts. Kario shoots out a massive, random barrage of dark danmaku, each resembling the standard shots of one of the beings integrated into Kario. The Hakurei Orbs around Kario turn black and separate out, sending out black ofuda, each targeting Genichiro. Kario then brings forth several gaps, each opening to reveal a black space filled with blood red eyes. The the gaps spin around, swallowing up some of the bullets being sent out, then redirecting them in a random direction, further filling the space around Kario. Genichiro is forced to move constantly to avoid being hit, with even the near misses burning his body. Genichiro manages to barely avoid a series of the dark ofuda while avoiding the main barrage. Kario himself stands in the middle of the mess, smiling with a look of insanity plastered on his face, the look of a man drunk with power. Genichiro fires at Kario, prompting the man to avoid the shots. Genichiro loses sight of one of the Hakurei orbs, crashing into one of them, and prompting it to shoot him. The dark ofuda tear through the armor Genichiro is wearing, knocking him down onto the ground, subjecting him to taking further shots. Kario changes his barrage to pin Genichiro down, leaving him no where to go.

"Goodbye, Genichiro," Kario says, while holding his hand out to Genichiro's form. Kario closes it, leaving an explosion in place of Genichiro.

"Ha ha ha! At last, it's done! I've finally killed you after all this time!" Kario shouts.

"Guess again!" Genichiro shouts from behind Kario, bringing his sword to bare against the mad man. Genichiro is no longer wearing his armor, the suit having taken his place in Kario's explosion.

"A trick!" Kario shouts.

"It was just slowing me down, anyway!" Genichiro shouts, now only wearing the dark green under suit. Genichiro swings his sword as fast as he can, making sure to deflect both of Kario's swords. The dark energy around Kario intensifies, turning his wings and swords black while staining the whites of his eyes black. Genichiro only picks up his pace, delivering blow after blow. Genichiro succeeds in hitting the ice sword hard enough to shatter it, leaving Kario with only the flame sword. Kario brings the Hakurei orbs to strike at Genichiro, forcing Genichiro to jump into the air. Genichiro slices the orb before him in half, then flips back to stab his sword into the next, destroying it. Genichiro leaps off the orb as it explodes, blowing through the remaining two before delivering a kick to Kario's midsection. Kario disappears into a gap, then reappears behind Genichiro, slashing his sword across Genichiro's back. Genichiro turns to hit Kario, only to have him disappear into another gap, and land another blow on Genichiro's left shoulder. Genichiro turns to strike again, only to get a kick to his back, knocking him down. Gaps appear and fire at Genichiro, forcing him to get back up. Kario emerges from his gap, and Genichiro charges at him. Kario disappears into a gap again, and appears behind Genichiro, only to take a slash to his midsection; Genichiro's first strike being a feint. Kario retreats to his gap, and emerges on the ceiling, before leaping at Genichiro. Kario attempts to blind Genichiro with the illusions cast by his eyes, but Genichiro looks away, blocking Kario through the sound of the air around him. Using his knowledge of those who's abilities Kario is using, Genichiro anticipates each change in tactic Kario attempts to use. Kario gets more desperate, intensifying his spell card again. Without the Hakurei orbs, the attack is nothing more but a random barrage, even with the help of the gaps. Genichiro puts all his strength into a finishing blow, his sword glowing with all the magic power he has. Genichiro charges forward, and cleaves Kario in half once more, taking out his flame sword with it and finally ending his spell. Genichiro leaps back, exhausted from the fight, while Kario spits up blood before pulling himself back together again.

Kario appears to be winded for a moment, the black aura around him fading. Kario's eyes return to normal, and he appears to stagger for a bit. Genichiro looks at Kario, looking to see if it's finally over. Kario then stops shaking, before breaking into another laughing fit.

"I'm in so much pain! It's exhilarating! To feel the pain of multiple deaths all at once, no wonder that immortal thought of this as more of a torture than a prize. But I don't mind, no I don't mind at all!" Kario shouts, before bringing forth new Hakurei orbs and swords, his aura picking up once again.

"Face it, Genichiro, you lost. This whole world is lost! I've won. I won the moment I got the elixir. Don't you get it, I'm immortal! You can't kill me. You can't stop me! I'll never wear down! Even in all this pain, I can continue, but can you? No, you can't. Your injuries won't heal. Your wounds won't close, and your pain will only get worse. Now you see, it's pointless for you to continue. Resolve yourself to your fate and just die already!" Kario shouts.

This time, it's Genichiro's turn to laugh, leaving Kario stunned, a small frown replacing his smug grin.

"Finally losing it now that you're going to die again?" Kario asks.

"You don't get it, do you? All those years you've lived... you said you wanted it once. You wanted death. Do you have any idea how many times I wanted to snuff myself out? But I could never do it. Deep down, I knew, there was a good reason for me to continue on, so I did. I accepted my ability not as a curse, but a blessing. I knew I had a purpose in the world, and now, I think I've finally found it. My reason for continuing to exist... it's to rid the world of you and what you stand for," Genichiro replies.

"Oh, is that so? Sorry to inform you, but I'm immortal, in case you've forgotten," Kario states.

"I know that much. In my stints to end myself, I found one way to do so. One way to kill an immortal."

"Nonsense, you can't kill an immortal. That's why we're called immortals."

"It's a simple thing, really. Equivalent exchange; one immortality for another. I end my very existence to put an end to yours."

"You're saying you plan to kill your soul? Impossible! Even if that would work, how would you do that?"

"With this," Genichiro replies, before pulling out a black spell card. The card itself starts to glow from Genichiro starting to channel his magic into it.

"It won't work! You're just wasting your life!"

"Stick around, then, and find out! Forbidden Dark Art 'Sacrifice of Being!'" Genichiro shouts, an expression of fatigue and pain going across his face. The card glows with a bright, white light, filling the world with a light bright as the sun itself, forcing Kario to look away. All at once, the area is filled with bright, white danmaku spheres, clustered so densely together that only a microbe could get through without taking a hit. The danmaku spheres don't explode on impact, but go through everything they touch. Kario stares in shock, looking around at the bright lights of Genichiro's spell. Kario suddenly finds he can't move.

"What have you done!" Kario shouts.

"All that my danmaku have touched will become one with me, fusing all at once, before my soul and the embodied energy of all the entities merged with me implode, removing their existence from this plane for all eternity," Genichiro states.

"No... no... no!" Kario shouts.

Genichiro grunts as his field of danmaku collapses back in on him. Everything they touched, from the walls, to the debris, and even the fire down the corridor, along with Kario are pulled into Genichiro. Kario attempts to brace himself, holding himself down by force of his will, but he's soon hit with a piece of the wall from the corridor, knocking him into Genichiro's body. Genichiro is surrounded by an empty cavity of space, floating in the middle.

"_So, this is it, huh? The end... after all these centuries. At least I've done some good in my life. It may not have been perfect, but I think I lived up to the expectations set for me. A shame that there's no heaven or hell in my future... just nothing... no coming back, no being judged, no watching from beyond... I won't even get to see Akano again... Akano... and Flandre... Flan-chan... after meeting you... I haven't been so happy in life. After so many years of cutting myself off from everyone, I finally was able to connect with someone again. I'm so sorry, Flandre. I really wanted to keep my promise, but I had to do this... it's the only way... please... forgive me... Flandre..." _Genichiro thinks to himself, a smile gracing his face as he feels the final phase of his spell commence. Genichiro's form turns into energy before expanding out in flash, leaving nothing behind.

Further within the base, S-Zero-One is looking at a screen, flashing a red warning.

"What is this... the entire coolant system for the reactor just disappeared. How can this be!" S-Zero-One shouts.

"Sir, the reactor is rapidly overheating. We can't shut it down!" another man shouts.

S-Zero-One pales, realizing the implications. A white light fills the room, along with bursts of flame from the exploding reactor.

The entire mountain shakes, a large fireball emerging from within, signaling the destruction of Mountain Base. The explosion is seen by all out on the field.

"What was that?" Reimu asks, everyone stopping in their tracks. After Tiara was defeated, everyone started heading for the base, under Tiara and Yukari's lead, looking to get rid of Jin and his men with Tiara's help.

"That was the base... I guess your friend must have done something to it," Tiara states.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts.

"I'm sure he wasn't in there, ze. He probably used that tengu speed to dash out of there," Marisa replies.

Flandre stands still for a moment.

"I'll send out a signal to get his attention," Mokou says, sending out large fireballs into the sky, bursting into patterns resembling a phoenix. Mokou continues this for a half hour, but there is still no sign of Genichiro.

"I'll go look for him. I'll be back in a second," Sakuya states.

Everyone nods as Sakuya stops time. Sakuya makes her way to the base, and runs into the flaming ruins, carefully avoiding the flames that can still burn her, even with time stopped. Sakuya rushes through, looking for signs of Genichiro. Sakuya then stumbles upon an empty sphere of space. Sakuya goes down to the bottom, looking to see if Genichiro was there. At the bottom, Sakuya finds a burnt spell card. She picks it up, and looks it over. A chill runs down her spine, prompting her to leave immediately.

Sakuya returns to everyone. Remilia looks at Sakuya in surprise, seeing her do something she had never seen Sakuya do before; Sakuya was crying.

"Sakuya, what happened? Did you find him? Is he alright?" Flandre asks, worried by Sakuya's expression. Sakuya hands Flandre the spell card. Flandre recognizes the card from before as Genichiro's; she reads over what's left of it, suddenly realizing what it's title meant.

"Then he... he used this..." Flandre asks.

Sakuya nods.

"No... then Gen-kun... Gen-kun is... Gen-kun is... no... no... no! Gen-kun!" Flandre shouts at the top of her lungs.


	15. The Last Word

_Disclaimer: Touhou is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 15 – The Last Word**

Roku was stocking shelves during a normal shift at Tsubura Markets. While he was working, he suddenly stopped, an ominous feeling washing over him.

"Hey, Roku-chan, you slacking already?" Ikai said, noting Roku's sudden pause.

"I just got a bad feeling about Seigai."

"Again? Look, it's been a few weeks since he disappeared. Worrying about him isn't going to make him come back."

"I know that, but this one is different... it's like something really bad happened to him... like... like he died, or something."

"Sei-chan dieing? I doubt it. That fool is too stubborn for his own good. He probably finally took my advice, and went somewhere to get some butt. You told me he was with all these girls the last time you saw him, right?"

"Yeah, but half of them looked like little girls, and one of them, that crazy maid chick, look liked their mom, or something."

"Well, if that's what he likes, that's what he likes."

"Even if he did go off with them there was that explosion at the lake, too. You remember, right? It happened the night he disappeared."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. You were scared to death he was there. They said there was nothing there, you know. They didn't find a single thing over there when they went to investigate."

"That's what the government said. You know we can't believe everything they say. Remember that thing I found when I was over there?"

"Yeah, I remember that toy you brought us, thinking it was some strange kind of gun, or something that looked like it was ripped off of something else. Just because it had metal in it doesn't mean it was real. Back when I was a kid, they made stuff to last, none of this plastic break-away crap you all have now."

"I heard of others finding strange things, too. One guy said he found what looked like an arm in some kind of strange armor, and then he suddenly said he never found a thing, like it was some kind of coverup, or something."

"Or he was just pulling your leg after you showed him that gun. Now drop it. Seigai wasn't at that lake, and he's not dead, just out having a good time somewhere," Ikai stated, before going back to work. As he continued, Oki walked over to him after hearing the conversation.

"You don't believe that, do you, that Seigai is just out for a party. It's not at all like him," Oki said.

"I know that, but we can't tell Roku that. He's had it rough enough as it is. Even the devil himself would miss his own brother. As bad as he treated Seigai, even he misses him now that he's gone. Shoot, even I miss him. He was a great worker, and a good friend," Ikai replied.

"Yeah, I do miss him and his crazy stories about the past. Like all the crazy stuff about being a youkai. I couldn't stand that crap, but I miss it. It got too quiet in here after he left."

Ikai silently nods. Everyone missed Seigai since his departure. None of them knew his "crazy youkai stories" were actually based off of his past lives. Of course, they were close-minded humans. The idea of youkai and magic existing to them was nonsense; nothing more than a child's delusion to them. Roku also didn't buy into it for the most part, though there were times when he could have sworn he saw a demonic light in his brother's eyes. He continued to work through the night, not realizing that what he felt was the after effect of powerful magic.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouted at the top of her lungs. Everyone was still trying to figure out what was going on. Seeing Sakuya cry had already told them something was very wrong. Flandre's outburst only confirmed it, and yet they still had no real idea what it was that was taking place.

"What is it, Sakuya! What's going on!" Remilia shouted.

Sakuya took the card from Flandre, then passed it on to Remilia, who looked it over and read it in shock.

"And this is one of Genichiro's?" Remilia asked.

"It is... I saw him drop it once and read it a little. It's the same one..." Flandre muttered, her emotions running wild.

Remilia stood shocked, her mouth agape in realization. Reimu and Marisa were next to look over the card. Both went silent before passing it along to the rest of the group. Most reacted with silent shock. Tiara herself was moved to tears. Mokou let a tear drop down before punching the cliff face in frustration.

"Mokou?" Reisen asked.

"It's my fault! He used this because that cursed Kario drank the elixir, the elixir he made from studying my body. If I wasn't so foolish! I would have never been caught, and then Genichiro would still be here!" Mokou shouted.

"He can come back, right? He just died, so he has to reincarnate himself again, right?" Flandre asked, believing Genichiro would just come back.

"Flandre..." Sakuya said.

"He won't come back; he extinguished his very soul to defeat this Kario. He overturned the most powerful spell of eternity by sacrificing the one thing he had that was eternal; his very soul," Kaguya explained.

Flandre started wailing, her momentary calm from thinking Genichiro would return taken by Kaguya's statement. Remilia was looking at her sister with feelings of both sympathy and fear. Sympathy for her loss, and fear for the potential of Flandre losing control of her powers and going on a rampage. After a few minutes of wailing, Flandre let out a shout of rage before heading off in the direction of the base, destroying anything that belonged to the armored men in her path. Remilia made to take off after her before Sakuya stopped her.

"Sakuya, let me go! We have to stop her before she starts destroying everything!" Remilia shouted.

"No, mistress. Your sister needs a chance to vent her frustrations. And I know where she is going; if she causes a problem, I can go after her," Sakuya replied.

"You know where she is going?" Reimu asked.

"She's going to the base. She wants to see for herself. I could see it in her eyes. She just wants to know, and to see the final resting place of one of her closest friends," Remilia remarked.

In another place, there was nothing but white light. There was no ground, no sky, nothing but white, in all directions, spread out through all of infinity. Within this realm lay not a body, or anything with mass, but a consciousness. A being defined only by its existence and nothing else.

"Where am I?" came the voice of the being, "Is this it? Is this death? Did I really become nothing? But if I am nothing, then why am I here? Should I not be at all?"

The consciousness pondered the meaning of it's current state, struggling to grasp how it came to be in it's current state.

"I cast that spell... that spell I designed to defeat immortality, and yet I still am. I don't have a body, or any kind of form, and yet I can see... I can see this world full of nothing. Is this it? Is this some kind of eternal punishment for my actions?" the consciousness asked.

"G... n... ro..." came a faint second voice from the void.

"Hm? Is that another person? Someone to taunt me in this place? If that's so, then maybe this is Hell, and this really is a punishment," the consciousness said.

"Genichiro..." the voice came again, still very faint, but able to be made out. The voice had a feminine tone to it.

"That voice... I know it from somewhere, don't I? But who... who's voice is it?" Genichiro asked himself.

"Genichiro, come to me," the voice came again.

"That voice... that voice... no, it couldn't be, could it?" Genichiro asked, as he tried to will himself to seek out the source of the voice.

Flandre continued on her path to the ruins of the base. Behind her lay the debris of all that remained of the armored men's presence in Gensokyo. All the gun turrets and shield bunkers, even the ruins of the tanks and jets that were thrown from the explosion of the base lay in flames. Flandre made her way into the flaming ruins, looking around for any sign of Genichiro.

"Gen-kun! Gen-kun! Answer me! I know you're here! You're just trapped somewhere, right? Don't worry, I'll save you!" Flandre shouted, with tears streaming down her eyes. Flandre continued down through the base, running into the sphere shaped void where Sakuya found Genichiro's spell card. Flandre made her way to the bottom, looking around for any sign of her friend.

"Gen-kun! Answer me! Gen-kun!" Flandre shouted again.

"Who are you?" came a faint voice from the ruins.

"Gen-kun! Gen-kun, is that you!" Flandre shouted.

"Who are you?" came the voice again. Flandre could make out the voice as being feminine, clearly not Genichiro's. This drove Flandre into a rage, leading to her destroying the place she heard the voice coming from.

"Who are you! Is Gen-kun with you! Give him back, give him back!" Flandre shouted.

"Who are you?" came the voice again. This time, it is followed by a bright light forming in front of Flandre. Flandre closed her eyes, the light being brighter than that of the flames around her. After a few moments, the light disappeared, and Flandre opened her eyes again. This time, she found herself looking at some kind of spirit. This spirit had long, bright red hair, and black eyes. Her skin was pale to match her ethereal form. She was wearing a long, black dress with long sleeves, tied with red ribbons at the shoulders, and had a large red bow on the chest and rear.

"Who are you?" Flandre asked, while looking ready to destroy the being in front of her.

"Who am I? I am Kuroiso Akano. And you are Flandre Scarlet, correct?" the spirit asked.

"Kuroiso Akano... that name... Gen-kun told me about you. Are you that person? The one he loved?"

"I am," the spirit of Akano replied.

In the void, Genichiro shouted the name of his lost lover, the one he believed to be the owner of the voice he was hearing.

"Akano! Akano, is that you?" Genichiro shouted.

Genichiro's being continued to move about the white space to the voice. He finally found something in the white light, the very person he sought.

"Akano... is that really you?" Genichiro asked.

"Yes, Genichiro, it is me," Akano replied.

"Akano... Akano!" Genichiro shouted, wanting to hug the person before him, but finding he could not.

"Be careful, Genichiro. Your form is very delicate right now. You have no body, not even a soul. Your just a consciousness, a thought process. If you do something too drastic, your form will disappear for all of eternity."

"So... I'm... I still exist?"

"Yes, you still exist, but barely. The rest of your being was destroyed when you used the spell. The only thing sustaining you right now is your will to continue, that last thought you had when the spell activated."

"When the spell activated... that's right. I was thinking about Flandre when that happened. I wished to be able to see her again... but to see you again in her stead."

"Genichiro, is this Flandre important to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you... do you love her?"

"Well... I... I... she is a close friend, and I like her a lot... and I think about her a lot... and talk to her a lot... and have fun with her... and can't stop thinking about her, even in death... I..."

"You do love her, then? Do not be afraid, Gen, I won't be upset."

"I do love her."

"I knew as much. I just wanted you to admit it for yourself."

"But Akano, I love you, too. I wanted to be with you so much. I couldn't stop thinking of you, even after I was killed by those people."

"I know. I heard it all."

"Huh?"

"Genichiro, you know how much I love you. Even after you died, I continued to love you. I remembered what you told me of your existence before. How you could continue to come back over and over. I knew I could meet you again, and you could meet me again, but,"

"But, by then, our age would be too different. It would cause unnecessary complications, and you couldn't simply wait for me to become an adult again."

"It's not that I couldn't wait, Genichiro. I was forced, forced by society to marry. I lied to that man. I told him I couldn't have children, that he was wasting his time on me. He kept me around to take care of him. I'm sure you saw that."

"I did. But why did you make such a lie?"

"I refused to give my body to him. I love you, and only you. I wouldn't allow another to defile me. He only kept me to do his housework for him. I'm sure you saw his mistress on more than one occasion."

"I see... then you really did... Akano, I'm sorry. To have put you through all of that. I should have tried to start a relationship with you, in spite of that age gap. I should have tried..."

"No, Genichiro. You did the right thing. If you had tried, it would have ended the same as it did before. The age gap would have made you suspicious from the start. Why would a twenty-year old of the time marry a fifty-year old? It was unheard of. They would have caught on to you and killed you again."

"I... I still..."

"Genichiro, you remember that night? That night in the forest?"

"I wish I could forget that horrible night."

"Before my father and those men showed up, there was something I wanted to tell you."

"What was it?"

"I was not a human, but a youkai like you, one who had also been reborn into a human."

"A youkai? But... but how?"

"I was a youkai magician. I studied the magical arts for many years, starting out as a human, and finally learning enough to become a full youkai. At first, this went unnoticed, but over the years, the villagers noticed I wasn't aging like I was supposed to be."

"So they went after you?"

"One of them was my 'father.' He was the one that dealt the killing blow. Rather than allow myself to die, I executed a spell that attached my consciousness to his being. I lay dormant there until the day he conceived a child."

"So that's how you were reborn?"

"That's right. Kario was right, I was a youkai. I was able to hide it, though. I never used my powers to regain my youkai body. I decided I wanted to live a normal life, then die at the end of it. That changed when I met you, though. When you told me of your story, I yearned for the chance to become a youkai again. So I made a decision; I was going to work to become a youkai magician once again. I was going to tell you that night, along with this, but before I could, my father and Kario's hunters showed up."

"I don't believe it... then... then... if that never happened..."

"Genichiro, that's a poor line of reasoning. It'll disrupt your form if you keep thinking about it. What took place happened the way it should have, as there was no other way it could have played out."

"Then... so you decided to live that life as you were going to before, right?"

"Correct. I lived that life out, as I planned. Genichiro, your stealth skills could have used some work. I could tell you were there, every time."

"I was hoping you might have seen me, just so we could at least talk again."

"I couldn't because of that man. I refuse to call him my husband. He was just a person I was stuck with. I was actually happy when he finally died and left me in peace."

"I see."

"That peace wouldn't last for long, though. I was old, too. I didn't have too many years left as a human, so I decided to become a youkai once again."

"But you died. I remember. I attended your funeral. You died the night after one of my visits. You looked so healthy, I was surprised when it happened."

"I didn't die after your visit, I 'died' during your visit."

"What do you mean?"

"I used the same spell as before, and attached myself to your consciousness."

"You mean... you've been with me this whole time?"

"In a sense. I couldn't interact with you, but I could still sense what you were doing. It was as though I was a part of you, like another organ. You can't talk to your liver any more than you could have tried to talk to me."

"Then when I launched that spell, it must have set you free from yours."

"Exactly. Genichiro, you did what you had to do to get rid of Kario. That man had done so much to us. So much to so many others. He had to be stopped, no matter what the cost, and the cost was your very being."

"But I'm still here... how can this be?"

"At the last second, I sacrificed part of my being in place of yours, enough to allow you the form you have now."

"Then... what'll happen to you? What'll happen to us? Will we remain like this for all eternity?"

"We could. That is very likely, but it doesn't have to happen that way."

"What do you mean?"

"Flandre. The one you love. She will seek you out, for she returns those feelings as well."

"Flandre... loves me? But how... I mean, even I doubted my feelings. We haven't really known each other for that long, and yet..."

"Genichiro, you of all people should know that time doesn't matter. What matters is that the feelings are genuine."

"I... you're right, of course. You always are."

"Of course I am. Someone has to point you in the right direction, just as I am about to now."

"What do you mean?"

"I will give you your life and being back, in exchange for mine."

"You... you what! Akano, you can't! I can't let you do that! This was my sacrifice to make! I can't just let you do that!"

"Genichiro, stop, that kind of thinking will erode your form."

"But..."

"No 'buts,' Gen. My life has been over for several centuries. I have no loved ones left behind to look after. No one there to miss me. It was accepted that I was dead. But you, you continued to exist. You had a rough life for a while, staying away from others, refusing to get close to anyone. And then it all changed that one night you met Flandre. Gen, you have someone precious to you. Someone out there waiting for you. Someone who will miss you."

"Akano... I can't... I can't just let you do this."

"Gen, stop that line of thinking."

"I... I..."

"Genichiro, I will always exist if you keep me in your heart. That's all that matters to me. Even if I stop being as me, I will continue being with you. So remember me, Genichiro. Remember me, now and always."

"Akano, I love you."

"I love you, Genichiro. Take care, my love," Akano said, before her form became a bright, flashing light.

"Wait! Akano!" Genichiro shouted.

In the ruins of the base, Flandre stood down, knowing that Akano was a precious person to Genichiro. She couldn't harm someone her Gen-kun loved.

"So, you're the one he loved, the one he lost, because of those humans," Flandre said.

"That's right, I am," Akano's spirit replied.

"How are you here? And where's Gen-kun?"

"Gen-kun is right here, with me," Akano replied, while pointing to herself.

"Then, then he's still alive?"

"Not quite. He's but a consciousness right now. His form is very fragile in it's current state. From the look on your face, I can assume you found out what spell he used?"

"Sakuya found the card... but Gen-kun can come back, right?"

"He can, but I'll need your help to do it. But first, I need to know. What do you think of him?"

"What do you mean?"

"How do you feel about him?"

"Well... well... he's really nice, and fun. And he isn't scared of me at all. He even saved me once from these armored people. And... and... I like him... a lot."

"Do you... love him?"

"Do I love him? Well... I.. I don't know. I think about him a lot, all the time, even when I'm not with him. And I feel warm when I'm around him, and think about what it would be like to live with him forever, holding him tight to me whenever I get the chance. Is that what love is?"

"I would say it is, but would you say it?"

"Say what?"

"Say your feelings with that word?"

"I... I... I love him, I love Gen-kun."

"I knew you did. I wanted you to admit it to yourself. It's very important that you do. Love is a very powerful magic. It's why I'm here now, and it's that magic which is the key to bringing Genichiro back."

"So I can see him again?"

"You can. I can bring his spirit back, but only you can bring his form back together again."

"How can I do that?"

"With your ability."

"My ability? To make things go 'kyuu?' How will that help?"

"Flandre, when you destroy something, you're just ripping it apart, right?"

"Well... yeah, ripping it apart with a big explosion by crushing it's eye."

"So, why couldn't you do the opposite, then?"

"The opposite?"

"The opposite of destruction, pulling things apart, is pulling things together, creation. You can bring back his form with your power. His form is all over the place here. Only his eternity was destroyed in the spell; his body remains. I can bring back his spirit, but you will have to bring back his body."

"But... I don't know how to do it! What if I make a mistake! I don't want to kill Gen-kun again!"

"That's where love comes in. Your love for him, the magic of that love. Use that magic, and you will be able to do it."

"But... but I..."

"Flandre, I will leave you with a gift that will help remove all doubt. I will use the last of my power to give you my strength. Together, our love for him will bring him back. Take the strength of my love, and add it to your own."

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure. Flandre, thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"For giving Genichiro someone to love again. His heart, which was closed for so long, was finally opened by you. His happiness is my happiness, and for the happiness you've given us, I am grateful."

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Maybe. I can't say for sure. Please, look after Genichiro for me in my place, okay?"

"I will, Miss Akano."

"Then I leave the rest to you, Flandre," Akano said, before approaching Flandre. Akano touched Flandre's head, before glowing brightly. Flandre had to close her eyes again at how bright the light was. While her eyes were closed, she could feel Akano's magic flowing through her, along with her feelings for Genichiro. Flandre could feel the magic changing her, strengthening the love that gave her her resolve. Flandre's body began to glow with a bright light, becoming brighter as the light around Akano faded. After Akano's light faded, Flandre could feel Genichiro's spirit, the familiar warmth his presence gave her guiding him. Flandre used her ability, seeing the pieces of the eye of Genichiro's body, and bringing them back together. Flandre's ability brought forth another bright light, filling the ruins of the base with a powerful white light. Then, as quickly as the light came about, it faded, leaving two forms behind. One form being Genichiro, another looking like Flandre, but different. This Flandre was now the size of an adult. Her features changed along with her size, Flandre now sporting a full figure, and a pair of small breasts. Genichiro and Flandre both opened their eyes, looking deeply into each other's eyes.

"Flandre?" Genichiro asked.

"Gen-kun!" Flandre shouted, before embracing Genichiro.

"Flandre, Flandre I..."

"Genichiro, I..."

"I love you!" the pair said to each other. The pair looked at each other, a blush crossing their faces, before they brought their lips together in a tender kiss. The pair remained locked together for a few moments, but it felt much longer to the pair of lovers. When they finally broke their kiss, the pair had to catch their breath for a moment.

"Gen-kun?" Flandre asked.

"Yes, Flan-chan?" Genichiro asked.

"Let's go home."

Genichiro nodded. He tried to fly, but found he was much too weak to do so. Flandre smiled and carried Genichiro, leaving the ruins of the base behind.

In the valley leading up to the Northern Hakurei Shrine, the others waited, Sakuya and Remilia both pondering how much longer they should wait before going after Flandre.

"How much longer do you think she'll need, ze?" Marisa asked.

"I don't know. I've never lost someone like that before," Remilia said, "Just give her a little more time."

"Yes, just a little more... mistress, look!" Sakuya shouted, pointing out a pair of beings flying towards them.

"Is that Flandre?" Remilia asked.

"Who's that with her?" Reimu asked.

"No way... is that... Genichiro?" Marisa asked.

As the pair of lovers approached, everyone shared surprised expressions at both Genichiro's return and Flandre's changed appearance.

"Flandre, is that you?" Remilia asked, looking up to her sister for the first time in her five hundred years of existence.

"It's me, Remi-nee. I brought Gen-kun back," Flandre replied.

"I always manage to keep my promises in the end," Genichiro remarked, a grin forming on his face.

Everyone bombarded the pair with questions about what had happened. The pair explained everything in detail, leaving everyone with a range of expressions from understanding to complete surprise and confusion. Everyone also shared what took place before, telling Genichiro of how Tiara was with the group.

"Sounds like you guys had a rough time," Genichiro said.

"At least you managed to get rid of that Kario guy," Remilia replied.

"Genichiro, you've done a great service for Gensokyo. I thank you for what you've done," Yukari said.

"I did what I had to," Genichiro replied.

"And you did a great job, Gen-kun," Flandre said, before giving a small kiss on Genichiro's cheek.

"Flandre... did you just!" Remilia shouted in surprise.

"I love him, Remi-nee. He can live with us, right? I'll make sure to take care of him, okay?" Flandre replied.

"I... I... ur... well, if he can help stand guard, I guess I can let you keep him," Remilia said.

"Thank you, Remi-nee!" Flandre shouted, before locking Remilia into a hug, picking her off the ground. Remilia was surprised to find Remilia's strength increased from her changed body, finding herself starved for air until her younger sister let her go.

"Let's head home," Genichiro said.

"Wait, there's one thing, first," Reisen said.

Reisen led the group back to where the battle with the black armored men had taken place. She walked up to her clone's body, a gentle smile on her face, even though her body was torn and bloodied. Reisen quietly closed her clone's eyes.

"Lady Yukari?" Reisen asked.

"I'm sorry, dear, but even I can't revive the dead. I cannot interfere in the realm of the Yama," Yukari replied.

"I understand."

"I can do this, though," Yukari said, before casting her magic upon the body of Reisen's clone. Yukari repaired the damage done to the body with her magic, making it look as though she was merely in a deep sleep, and could wake at any time. Reisen knew that was not the case, though.

"Thank you, Lady Yukari," Reisen said.

Yukari nodded. Reisen picked up her clone's body, and everyone, except Letty, returned south. Everyone went their separate ways, each going to the place they called home, resting up from the events of the day. The next day, everyone was invited to Eientei for the funeral of Reisen's clone.

"She was a good rabbit," Tewi said.

Everyone was gathered in their best clothes, Remilia having Sakuya fashion a suit for Genichiro.

"She was a good friend, in the short time we knew her. She tried so hard that time to save me, even though she knew she was outmatched. I'm sure she showed that same resolve when you came to save me," Mokou said.

"She did, Mokou, she did. She protected me, and the master, and the princess. She did the best she could, and it gave us just enough time for your arrival," Reisen replied.

Normally, Mokou would huff at the comment of hearing Kaguya being protected, but let it be, as a showing of respect for the one who helped her out before.

"I wish we could have gotten to know her more," Kaguya said.

"I'm sure she would have become her own person in time, a person with Udonge's kindness and heart, but her own spirit and will. I will miss her," Eirin stated.

"I wish I could have gotten a chance to know her a little better. I didn't get to really talk to her at all," Reimu said.

"Neither did I. I would have liked to get to know her better, see if she was better at danmaku than the original, ze," Marisa remarked.

"I really wanted to pull some pranks with her, but, I guess I won't get the chance now," Tewi said.

"It's okay. I'm sure that, wherever she is now, she'll be watching over all of you," Sakuya said.

"You really think so?" Tewi asked.

"Yes, I think so," Sakuya replied.

"Everyone who has left us has never truly left, as long as we continue to think about them. She's not gone, as long as we keep her in our hearts," Genichiro said.

"I hope she's happy where she is," Flandre said.

"She is, I'm sure," Sakuya replied.

Tewi, Reisen, and the other rabbits silently buried their friend, waiting for the day when they could all meet again. There was a small ceremony held. In the middle of the ceremony, Flandre and Genichiro decided to leave. They had their own ceremony to attend. The pair made their way to the Forest of Magic, and found a small cliff side, with a view to look up to the sky.

"I think this is as good a place as any," Genichiro said.

"I think so, too, Gen-kun," Flandre replied.

Genichiro held up a spell card, and activated it, the spell bringing forth not danmaku, but a small grave stone, decorated with flowers they had Kanna make for them. The grave stone had Akano's name on it.

"She would have loved it here," Genichiro said.

"I can see why. It's a really nice place," Flandre replied.

The pair set the stone at the base of the small cliff, and had a moment of silence for the one who helped to bring them together in the end.

"_Thank you, Miss Akano, for giving me Gen-kun back,"_ Flandre thought to herself.

"_Thank you, Akano, for giving me my life back," _Genichiro thought.

"_I'll always remember you,"_ the pair thought together.

After the pair offered more thoughts to the one they knew, they set off to return to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. When they arrived, they were surprised to find Nitori and Yukari waiting for them.

"Lady Yukari, and Miss Nitori? What are you doing here?" Flandre asked.

"We have something for you," Yukari said.

"It's this. It'll create a portal back to your world, Genichiro. You could go back and forth anytime you wish," Nitori explained.

"It's okay, I don't really need it. I have a home here," Genichiro replied.

"Oh, don't go on with that one. Everyone gets homesick. I've seen it happen with everyone I bring into this world. I'm giving you a chance to avoid that. Besides, I've been to your world, and it's quite interesting seeing how different things are in a place without Gensokyo," Yukari stated.

"What do you mean you've been there before?" Genichiro asked.

"Oh, I used this device to go there and back. Once I figured out how to get to your world, I can get myself there anytime I like with my ability. I did it mainly out of curiosity, of course. I have no use for this now, so take it, dear. Go surprise those you left behind, and have fun with it," Yukari replied.

"Come on, Gen-kun. It'll be fun! You could show me some more fun places over there," Flandre said.

"Alright, I guess I can. I haven't seen that Roku since I got here. He is my brother in a sense. Might as well go see if he misses me," Genichiro remarked, before taking the device.

"Don't abuse it, now. And don't worry. Even if it breaks somehow, I can always bring you back, so don't worry about it," Yukari said.

"Thank you, Lady Yukari," Genichiro said.

Yukari smiled before gapping herself and Nitori elsewhere. Flandre and Genichiro spent the rest of the day in the garden, waiting for Remilia, Sakuya, Patchouli, Meiling, and En to return. After they returned, Sakuya prepared one of her famous dinners and everyone went off to their nightly business. Flandre and Genichiro decided they would have their own fun that night.

"Let's see if this thing works," Genichiro said.

"Let's go!" Flandre shouted, her adult body doing nothing to change her childish enthusiasm. Genichiro activated the device. The air around the pair started to distort, looking like the air itself was waving before Genichiro's room in the mansion disappeared to reveal the wooded area near Genichiro's old house.

"Huh, this is where I first met you, isn't it?" Genichiro asked.

"I remember, Gen-kun. I fell right about here, and you beat that guy right over there," Flandre replied.

"Well, let's go surprise everyone... wait, I should take my human form, first," Genichiro stated. Genichiro pulled out a spell card, and activated it. His body glowed in response, his tail and ears disappearing, and his hair turning black, with human ears appearing. He still had his Tengu clothes on. Genichiro stumbled a bit, disoriented from the changes to his body.

"Are you okay, Gen-kun?" Flandre asked.

"Yep, I'm okay. Just forgot what this body felt like. My sense of balance was thrown off by my ears changing position. Well, let's go surprise everyone. They should be at work right about now, taking a nice little break.

Genichiro and Flandre made their way to Tsubura Markets, the group of Roku, Ikai, Oki, Tsuyoshi, and Inishi outside, telling late comers the store was closed. The group spotted Genichiro and Flandre, not recognizing the pair from the distance.

"Hey, we're closed!" Roku shouted.

"Well, this place is always open for me!" Genichiro shouted.

"What!" Roku shouted, ready to pull a knife, assuming Genichiro was a drunk or otherwise up to no good.

"Hey wait, that voice... didn't that sound like your brother?" Ikai asked.

"Eh? Seigai!" Roku shouted.

"Yo!" Genichiro shouted.

"Hey, everyone!" Flandre shouted.

"No way, Seigai! That you! What on earth are you wearing! And where have you been for the past month and a half!" Roku shouted.

"Well, funny story," Genichiro replied.

"Hey, wait, is that the girl from before? She looks a bit different though. And why is she still wearing those wings? Don't tell me you were at an anime convention this whole time," Roku said.

"Huh? Anime convention? What's that?" Flandre asked.

"It's a place where people gather to celebrate and talk about animation. People dress up like the characters sometimes," Genichiro explained.

"Oh, I see, Gen-kun," Flandre replied.

"Gen-kun? You change your name, or something?" Roku asked.

"Actually... well... remember all that stuff I told you before about being a youkai and stuff, and I said it was all made up?" Genichiro asked.

"Uh, yeah," Roku replied.

"And you're now dressed up like that? Have you lost it?" Ikai asked.

"You're crazy," Oki said.

"I think you need some help, buddy," Tsuyoshi said.

"You really have lost it," Inishi said.

"He's not crazy!" Flandre shouted.

"Relax, it's better if I just show them," Genichiro stated, before pulling out a spell card.

"You collecting cards now, too?" Roku asked.

Genichiro rolled his eyes before he activated the card, changing his form back to his youkai state. Everyone took a step back in shock.

"Yeah, all that stuff was true. Ookami Genichiro is my real name, nice to meet you," Genichiro said, a smile on his face.

"Ah!" shouted Roku, before pulling out his knife and pointing it straight at Genichiro.

"You call that a knife?" Genichiro asked, before summoning his sword, "Now this, this is a knife."

Roku dropped his little knife, before stepping back and shaking.

"What's that smell?" Flandre asked.

"Uh... he peed himself," Genichiro remarked, while moving to hold his nose.

Ikai and Oki started laughing. They were still surprised at Genichiro's form, but the pair would never miss a chance to laugh at Roku.

"Good to see some things never change," Genichiro replied.

"So, Sei-chan, er, Gen-chan, where were you the whole time. I see you have a lady with you. You go to some wild party with a bunch of girls and decide to bring one home?" Ikai asked.

"Uh, sort of," Genichiro replied.

"Get out of here, seriously?" Oki said.

"A party is a fun way of looking at it," Flandre said.

"Um, miss, I don't think I caught your name," Oki said, while looking Flandre up and down.

"Flandre Scarlet, of the Scarlet Devil Mansion," Flandre replied.

"Wait, wait! Hold up, you mean the same one from those games Seigai, er, Genichiro, eh, whatever play!" Roku shouted.

"I told you about multiverse theory, didn't I? It's true, you know," Genichiro said.

"Ha ha... ha ha... ha ha ha! I get it, it's all some kind of dream, right? Okay, okay, I get it! Someone wake me up!" Roku shouted.

Roku suddenly found himself darting straight up in his bed, a massive headache plaguing him.

"Uh... that was a crazy dream..." Roku muttered to himself. Roku shook himself a little, then made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After getting dressed, he made his way down the stairs.

"Oh... hey, Genichiro, what day is it?" Roku asked of the man sitting on his couch.

"It's Friday," Genichiro replied.

"Okay... wait... ah! Y-you... you're real!"

"Uh, yeah. Should I not be?"

"Where's that Flandre girl?"

"In the shower."

"Alright, alright! What happened last night?"

"You passed out and hit your head on the sidewalk. We took you home and put you in your bed. Your dirty pants are in your laundry bin. Thank goodness I had my magic to get you undressed; I did not want to touch you."

"Gah! Alright, at least I know where the headache came from..." Roku muttered to himself.

A few moments later, Flandre made her way down the stairs, wearing one of Genichiro's old outfits.

"It fits a little better this time. Sorry about tearing the back for my wings," Flandre said.

"It's okay, I could always get some more," Genichiro replied.

"Alright, I get that your a White Wolf Tengu, part Were-Hakutaku thing. I gathered that much from those stories you always told. What about her?"

"I'm a vampire," Flandre replied.

"A vampire, okay, sure, why not? A vampire, with crazy wings. Well, is there anything else I should know before having myself committed?"

"I'm thirsty, and you look like you'll fit the bill nicely," Flandre said, while walking up to Roku, her fangs exposed.

"Ah! Stay back! Stay back!" Roku shouted.

"Relax, all I want is your blood!" Flandre shouted.

"Get away, get away!" Roku shouted, as he threw a knife at Flandre. Flandre caught the kitchen knife, looking it over.

"It's not even sharp, not at all like Sakuya's," Flandre remarked.

Roku paled, reaching for another knife.

"Well, it's getting late now. I'm sure your sister is wondering where we went off to. We should head back now and get some sleep," Genichiro said.

"Yeah, I suppose. I am feeling a little tired," Flandre replied.

"You're tired now? You were up all night?" Roku asked.

"Uh, yeah," Genichiro replied.

"Vampires do that," Flandre said.

"Anyway, be back again, see ya!" shouted Genichiro, before activating the portal generator and distorting the air around the pair, before they disappeared.

"Okay, that's it. That whole thing was just a dream, yep," Roku said.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot," came a feminine voice from beside Roku. Roku turned around to see Yukari hanging out of one of her gaps.

"W-wha... what..." Roku stuttered.

"Oh, just seeing what those two were up to, dear. Good day," Yukari said, before disappearing in her gap.

"Okay, okay, that didn't just happen, yep. There was no strange lady hanging out of... whatever that was. Yep, didn't happen at all," Roku remarked, before going up the stairs to see Genichiro's old room open.

"Just close this, and it never happened," Roku muttered, before quickly noting what was on the floor: Flandre's dress. She had left it behind with a note on it, saying to wash it delicately. A cute vampire face with little wings was drawn in the lower right corner.

"Gah, forget it. It happened, I get it!" Roku shouted, before slamming the door shut in frustration.

Back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion in Gensokyo, Genichiro and Flandre made their return, Flandre drawing stares with her Outside World clothes.

"Went there?" Remilia asked.

"Yep! It was fun messing with his old brother!" Flandre shouted.

Genichiro formed a smile in response. Remilia stared at Genichiro.

"Um, yes, Mistress Remilia?" Genichiro asked.

"Next time, you tell me or bring me along, got it?" Remilia asked.

"Yes, mam!" Genichiro shouted, making sure Sakuya stopped reaching for her knives.

"Good, good. Now then, you begin your duty as gate guard when you wake up, so I suggest you get some sleep. And separate rooms! I don't want any impure acts taking place in my household. That goes double for you, Flandre," Remilia said.

"Yes, Remi-nee," Flandre replied in a low monotone.

"Good," Remilia said before leaving.

The day was fairly uneventful with everyone sleeping. That night, after dinner, Genichiro took his place as the night guard, while Meiling took a chance to get some rest. Flandre decided to join Genichiro for a little while.

"Well, I guess this is going to be my life in this world for a while," Genichiro said.

"Yep!" Flandre replied.

"I could get used to this. I'm sure there's lot of fun adventures to be had in this land."

"And we can have them all together!"

"We sure can!"

"We might have to bring Remi-nee sometimes, but we'll get to have plenty of time to ourselves. There's always things taking place here. I always wanted to be a part of everything. Now that I'm with you, I don't want to miss out on anything ever again!"

"And we won't! Tell you what, the first chance I get away from guard duty, let's just go somewhere, somewhere random."

"Alright, we will!"

"Let's make sure to have lots of fun together!" Genichiro shouted.

The pair smiled and shared a small kiss under the moonlit night.

"Alright, let's see if I can get into Patchy's library tonight. I bet that guard is already dozing off. Just have to make sure I don't get caught by Remi, since she's probably awake right now," Marisa said, while approaching the mansion. She was prepared to sneak in, as she did at night from time to time, knowing Meiling tended to sleep a lot more at night than she did during the day. She was surprised to see Genichiro standing there, sword in hand and a big grin plastered on his face. Flandre was standing there beside him.

"Alright, I get some excitement on my first night!" Genichiro shouted.

"I wanna play, too. Don't keep all the fun to yourself, Gen-kun!" Flandre pouted.

"Of course, I wouldn't dream of denying you a chance at some fun," Genichiro said. Both formed an evil grin while looking at the black-white witch.

"Heh heh, I think I should go, ze," Marisa said.

"Let's play, Black-white-nee!" Flandre shouted, both her and Genichiro with spell cards in their hands.

"Ze!" Marisa shouted as the match began, the first of many Flandre and Genichiro would have together in the magical world of Gensokyo.

_A/N: It's been a long ride everyone. Just about a year since I first started this fic. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave one last review! Until the next phantasm..._


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